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THE 
MASSACHUSETTS  SOCIETY 
FOR 
PROMOTING     AGRICULTURE 
53  STATE  STREET. 


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Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/centennialyear1700massrich 


Centennial  Year 


(1T92       -      ISO  2.  ) 


—  OF- 


THE  MASSACHUSETTS  SOCIETY 


—  FOR 


Promoting  Agriculture, 


'U'NIVEESIT 


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TRUSTEES    FOR    THE    YEAR    1892, 


Thomas  Motley,  President, 

Leverett  Saltonstall,  First    Vice-Pres., 

Henry  Saltonstall,  Second  Vice-Pres., 

Francis   H.  Appleton,  Recording  Sec, 

Charles  S.  Sargent,  Corresponding  Sec, 

Jacob  C.  Rogers,  Treasurer. 

Henry  S.  Russell, 

John  Lowell, 

Frederick  L.  Ames, 

Augustus  Hemenway, 

S.    Endicott    Peabody, 

Walter  Cutiing. 


PBINTED   at  SAt,EM  OliSEBVER   OFFIOK, 
SALEM,   MASS. 


>^   OF  TH!!      %: 

[TJNIVEHSIT 


i^i^^HE  period  of  twenty  or  more  years  past  has  beea  aa 
^ite  epoch  of  centennials.    Nor  is  it  yet  ended.  Several 
{.^^©S  of  an  interesting  character  are  now  approaching. 
One  is  at  hand,  the    one  hundredth  anniversary  of    the 
Massachusetts  Society  for  Promoting  Agriculture.  It  dif- 
fers from  those  preceding  in'.being  of  State  rather  than  na- 
tional prestige,  but  is  still  of  high  rank  and  dignity.    The 
society  was  incorporated  by    an   act  of  the    Legislature 
passed  March  7, 1792.  Its  long  career  of  beneficial  activity, 
the  distinguished  names  borne  upon  its   roll  of  member- 
ship, and  its  priority  of  date  among  societies  of  like  char- 
acter   in  this    section  of  the    country    make    it    eminent 
among    the  State's  chartered  institutions  and  give  it  fame 
beyond  the  borders,  a  fame  not  exclusively    its  own  as  it 
pertains  also  to  the  Commonwealth.  That  this  characteriz- 
ation is  warranted  it  will  be  the  aim  of  the  following  pages 
to  show  in  a  review  of  some  of  the  main  facts  of  the  Soci- 
ety's history.  Such  an  anniversary  is  necessarily  retrospec- 
tive in  its  suggestions.      A  summing  up  of  past   experi- 
ences will  be  a  fitting  commemoration  of  the  old  and  be- 
ginning of  the  new  century.    For  the  society  has  both  the 
resources  and  the  disposition  to  pursue  its  mission    and  to 
avail  itself  of  whatever  opportunities   the  coming    years 
shall  bring   for  the  advancement  of  the  first    and  most 
indispensable  of  the  useful  arts. 

The  origin  of  the  Society  is  in  the  following  petition  : 

Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts :  To  the  honorable 
the  Senate  and  the  honorable  House  of  Representatives, 
in  General  Court  assembled,  this  second  day  of  March, 
1792: 

The  undersigned  beg  leave  to  represent  that  agriculture 


6  THE   MASSACHUSETTS   SOCIETY 

has  in  all  civilized  nations  been  ranked  among  the  first 
objects  of  their  attention  ;  that  different  climates  produce 
different  soils  and  different  kinds  of  manure,  which  has 
made  a  different  cultivation  important.  Hence  it  is  that 
the  beneficial  effects  of  the  best  writers  on  the  subject  of 
agriculture  have  been  exceedingly,  limited.  In  conse- 
quence hereof  it  has  been  found  necessary,  not  only  among 
the  nations  of  Europe,  but  among  the  United  States  and 
the  British  colonies  in  America,  to  establish  under  the 
sanction  of  law,  agricultural  societies,  whose  particular 
business  is  to  make  experiments  themselves  and  invite 
others  thereto  on  the  subject  of  agriculture  ;  and  means 
have  been  found  by  which  monies  have  been  placed  in 
their  hands,  which  has  put  it  in  their  power  to  give  hand- 
some premiums  to  the  men  of  enterprise  who  have  by 
their  inquiries  made  useful  discoveries  and  communicated 
them  to  the  public. 

The  undersigned  beg  leave  farther  most  respectfully  to 
represent  that  from  the  fullest  conviction  of  the  utility 
of  such  an  institution  in  this  Commonwealth  they  are 
willing  to  undertake  the  burden  of  being  members  there- 
of, if  the  General  Court  shall  think  proper  to  vest  in 
them  and  their  associates  corporate  powers,  competent  ta 
embrace  all  the  purposes  which  may  be  derived  from  such 
an  institution.     And  as  in  duty  bound  shall  pray  : 

B.  Lincoln 
S.  Holten  J.  Lowell 

Moses  Gill  M.  Brimmer 

Azor  Orne  Benj.  Guild 

Edwd  Cutts  Aaron  Dexter 

Thomas  Russell  Cotton  Tufts 

Thomas  Durfee  Sam'l  Adams 

John  Avery  Jr.  C.  Gore 

Joseph  Barrell  Jona.  Mason  Jun^ 

Sa :  Salisbury  Jona'^  Mason 

Chas  Yaughan  Henry  Hill 

Chas  Bulfinch  D.  Sears 

Ja  :  Sullivan  John  Cod  man 

Sam'l  Phillips  Stephen  Higginson 

Thomas  L.  Winthrop 

The  act  of  incorporation  bore  the  signature  of  John 
Hancock  as  governor  of  the  Commonwealth.  In  it  the 
petitioners  were  named  as  the  corporators  in  alphabetical 


FOR  PEOMOTING  AGRICULTURE.  T 

order,  Famiiel  Adams  being  at  the  head  of  the  list.  The 
final  clause  of  the  act  is  as  follows  : 

That  the  place  of  holding  the  first  meeting  of  the  said 
society  ^hall  be  in  the  town  of  Boston  ;  and  that  Samuel 
Adams,  Esq.,  be,  and  he  hereby  is  authorised  and  em- 
powered to  fix  the  time  for  holding  the  said  meeting,  and 
to  notify  the  same  to  the  members  of  the  said  society,  by 
causing  the  same  to  be  published  in  one  of  the  Boston 
newspapers,  fourteen  days  before  the  time  fixed  for  hold- 
ing the  said  meeting. 

Mr.  Adams,  mindful  it  maj  be  surmised,  of  the  desirability 
of  beginning  on  a  propitious  day,  named  April  19,  follow- 
ing. The  meeting  was  held  accordingly  in  the  Council 
Chamber  of  the  State  House,  the  same  in  which,  as  de- 
clared by  John  Adams,  "  the  child,  Independence,  was 
born, ''  and  the  same  where  Samuel  Adams  had  demanded 
of  Governor  Gage  "  the  removal  of  both  regiments,  "  in 
air  and  attitude  as  the  artist  has  represented  him  in  Bos- 
ton's familiar  statue.  The  only  business  done  at  this  meet- 
ing of  April  19  was  to  take  the  first  step  in  organization, 
by  electing  John  Avery,  Jr.  secretary  of  the  society  pro 
tern.  The  organization  was  completed  at  an  adjourned 
meeting  of  June  14,  1792. 

The  dates  given  are  important  as  marking  the  beginning 
of  whatever  has  since  been  done  in  Massachusetts  by  soci- 
eties or  cfficial  boards  for  the  promotion  of  agriculture. 
Here  on  March  2,  March  7,  April  19  and  June  14  the  prim- 
ary impulse  was  given,  which,  within  the  next  27  years, 
was  manifest  in  the  formation  of  eight  other  agricultural 
societies  in  the  State.  Previously  to  1852  seven  more  were 
organized  and  in  that  year  the  Board  of  Agriculture  of  the 
State  was  established.* 

These  organizations  and  those  of  the  various  town  clubs 
and  societies  were  but  copies  of  the  original  instance,  the 

*Tbe  dates  are  as  follows:  Middlesex  Society,  1794;  Stiirbridge  society, 
1799;  Keimebec,  1800;  Berkshire,  1811;  Essex,  1818;  Worcester,  1818; 
Hamps-hire,  Franklin  and  Hampden  Society,  1818;  Plymontli,  1819;  Bristol, 
1823;  Barnstable,  18i4;  Hampden  county  society,  1844;  Housatonic,  1848; 
Norfolk,  1849;  Hampshire  and  Franklin  society,  1850;  Worcester  West 
society,  1851.    All  but  one  or  two  of  these  were  organized  as  corporations. 


8  THE  MASSACHUSETTS    SOCIETY 

method  and  operation  of  which  were  Inore  and  more  seen 
to  be  of  indisputable  utility.  It  may  be  remarked  that  the 
society  is  not  only  prior  in  date  to  all  others  in  the  State, 
but,  as  a  corporation,  to  all  others  in  the  United  States. 
In  New  York  and  Pennsylvania,  and  possibly  in  one  of  the 
more  Southern  states,  societies  had  been  formed  a  few 
years  earlier,  the  first  in  1785.  In  the  Canadian  provinces 
one,  or  possibly  two,  existed.  The  petition  alludes  to 
these,  and,  in  the  same  connection,  to  European  societies. 
They  were  but  few  in  number.  Britain  appears  to  have 
had  but  two,  the  Dublin  society,  which  is  stated  to  have  had 
"  but  small  influence  for  many  years,  "  and  the  Highland 
society  in  Scotland,  which  was  incorporated  in  1787.  The 
British  Board  of  Agriculture  was  not  established  till  1793. 
It  is  noticeable  that  the  fathers  of  the  Massachusetts  society 
disclaim  in  their  petition  any  pretence  as  originators  ;  but 
their  praise  is  that  they  were  in  the  world's  front  rank  as 
*'  advanced  thinkers  ''  on  the  important  subject  for  promot- 
ing which  they  organized,  and,  as  respects  public  opinion, 
they  were,  as  one  of  the  later  official  publications  of  the 
society  declares,  "  ahead   of  the  age.  " 

Two  names  are  at  once  recognizable  in  the  list  of  peti- 
tioners as  of  the  highest  distinction  and  of  national  renown, 
Samuel  Adams,  "  the  father  of  the  Revolution, ''  and  Ben- 
jamin Lincoln,  the  companion  in  arms  and  personal  friend 
of  Washington.  If  the  shadows  of  forgetfulness  have  in 
varying  measure  crept  over  the  others  it  is  fitting  that, 
for  the  present  occasion,  they  be  singled  out  from  the  long 
roll  of  one  hundred  years,  as  pre-eminent,  the  fathers  and 
founders,  the  brethren  ah  urbe  condita. 

John  Avery  Jii.,  the  first  secretary  of  the  society,  was 
at  the  time  of  its  organization  also  the  secretary  of  the  Com- 
monwealth. He  was  of  the  Truro  family  of  that  name  ; 
born  in  1739  ;  graduate  of  Harvard,  1759  ;  secretary  of 
State  from  the  adoption  of  the  constitution  in  1780  to  his 
decease  in  1806.     He  does  not  appear  to  have  been  a  prac- 


FOR   PROMOTING   AGRICULTURE.  9 

tical  agriculturalist,  but  engaged  in  a  subordinate  way  in 
the  form  of  *'  ventures  "  in  commerce. 

Thomas  Russell,  the  first  president  of  the  society,  was 
one  of  the  foremost,  busiest  and  most  prosperous  citizens 
of  Boston.  He  was  born  in  1740 ;  died  in  1796  ;  repre- 
sented Boston  in  the  General  Court,  and  the  constitutional 
convention  of  1788  ;  was  member  of  the  governor's  coun- 
cil during  the  next  three  years.  He  was  the  first  president 
not  only  of  this  society  but  of  the  Massachusetts  Bank, 
when  it  was  organized  in  17^  ;  of  the  United  States  branch 
Bank  at  its  organization,  in  1792,  and  of  the  Charles  river 
bridge  corporation  in  1785.  He  lived  on  one  of  the  finest 
estates  in  Boston,  fronting  on  Summer  street,  with  the 
mansion  standing  at  the  present  northerly  part  of  Otis 
street,  near  Wiuthrop  square.  He  had  a  farm  of  53  acres, 
part  of  which  was  in  Charlestown  and  part  in  Cambridge, 
and  at  one  time  he  owned  the  Craigie  estate  in  Cambridge, 
now  familiarly  known  as  the  home  of  Longfellow.  When 
in  1784  (the  war  being  ended)  the  Continental  congress 
decided  to  sell  on  the  stocks  the  new  74  gun  frigate,  the 
first  ever  built  in  Boston,  he  was  appointed  as  the  agent  to 
conduct  the  sale.  When  the  frigate  Constitution  was 
launched  in  1797,  though  he  was  no  longer  living,  it  was 
deemed  worth  the  while  to  make  record  that  the  bottle  of 
Madeira  wine,  with  which  the  ship  was  christened,  came 
from  the  cellar  of  Thomas  Russell. 

Joseph  Barrell  (1739-1804)  was  a  leading  merchant. 
He  had  a  store  on  the  town  dock  near  Faneuil  Hall,  and 
sold  West  India  and  other  foreign  goods.  He  was  first  on 
the  list  of  direoctrs  of  the  United  States  Bank,  and  the  pi- 
oneer in  opening  the  Northwest  coast  trade.  His  ships, 
the  Washington  and  the  Columbia,  were  the  first  to  round 
Cape  Horn  in  that  enterprise,  and  the  latter  was  the  first 
vessel  that  ever  crossed  the  bar  of  the  Columbia  river  in 
Oregon,  whence  the  river  gets  its  name.  He,  also,  had  a 
fine  estate  on  Summer  street,  which  he  improved  by  filling 
up  the  bog  in  the  rear,  which  had  existed  from  the  begin- 


10  THE   MASSACHUSETTS   SOCIETY 

ning,  near  what  is  now  Franklin  street,  and  laid  out  a  gar> 
den  and  fish  pond.  In  1792  he  built  a  brick  mansion  at 
Charlestown  (now  Somerville)  on  the  premises  now  known 
as  the  McLean  Asylum,  where  he  owned  ITO  acres  of  land. 
The  building  is  in  use  to  this  day,  and  in  some  of  its  inter- 
ior construction  is  regarded  as  elegant  according  to  present 
standards.     He  introduced  the  tautog  fish  into  Boston  bay. 

Martin  Brimmer  (1742-1804)  was  a  prosperous  mer- 
chant of  Boston.  He  appears  not  to  have  held  any  public 
office.  He  had  an  estate  of  40  acres  in  Roxbury  on  or  near 
the  borders  of  Jamaica  Pond.  This  was  his  place  of  resi- 
dence throughout  the  year  and  no  doubt  he  was,  in  a  very 
just  sense,  a  ''  practical  farmer.'' 

Chai?les  Bulfinch  (1763-1844)  graduated  at  Harvard 
in  1781  ;  afterwards  visited  Europe  for  study  and  estab- 
lished himself  as  architect  in  Boston  in  1786.  Many  nota- 
ble buildings  of  Boston  were  planned  by  him,  including 
the  State  House,  the  original  City  Hall,  and  the  "  Tontine 
buildings,  "  so  called,  famous  mansions  in  their  day  and 
whose  outline  in  the  ground  plan  gives  the  present  crescent 
form  to  Franklin  street.  He  was  architect  of  the  Capitol 
at  Washington,  as  originally  constructed,  from  1817  to  its- 
completion  in  1830. 

John  Codman  (1755-1803)  was  a  prominent  merchant. 
He  was  born  in  Charlestown,  where  his  father  had  a  farm. 
He  was  a  director  of  the  United  States  Bank.  When  in 
1798  war  with  France  was  imminent,  he,  with  other  Boston 
merchants,  built  a  frigate  and  presented  it  to  the  United 
States  government,  his  subscription  being  $3,000.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  lower  branch  of  the  General  Court  three 
years  and  twice  was  chosen  a  senator. 

Edward  Cutts  Tl 728-1 818)  was  a  prominent  lawyer 
and  judge  in  Kittery,  then  in  this  state,  now  in  Maine.  He 
had  agricultural  interests  there.  He  was  a  senator  in 
the  General  Court  three  years  and  member  of  the  gov- 
ernor's council,  nine  years. 

Aaron  Dexter   (1750-1829)  graduated  at  Harvard  in 


FOR   PROMOTING   AGRICULTURE.  11 

1776.  He  was  a  ship's  surgeon  in  the  Revolutionary  war 
and  was  captured  by  the  British.  He  also  served  in  the 
army  called  out  to  suppress  Shay's  rebellion.  He  was  pro- 
fessor in  chemistry  and  materia  medica  at  the  college  for 
many  years  and  later  was  president  of  the  Middlesex  Canal 
corporation  and  prominent  in  various  societies.  He  owned 
a  farm  in  Chelsea  where  the  Marine  Hospital  now  is. 

THO.>rAS  DuRFEE  (1721-1796)  was  born  in  Tiverton  now 
Fall  River.  He  had  a  farm  of  750  acres  there.  He  was  a 
representative  of  the  town  s^eral  years,  senator  13  years^ 
of  the  governor's  council  six  years,  a  judge  in  Bristol 
county,  member  of  the  constitutional  convention  of  1788,  an 
active  patriot  in  the  Revolution  and  personal  friend  of  La- 
fayette. 

Moses  Gill  (1733-1800)  was  born  in  Charlestown  and 
resided  in  Princeton,  and  was  a  farmer  there.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  provincial  congress  of  1774,  senator  in  1789, 
lieutenant  governor  in  1794  and  acting  governor  from  Jun& 
1799  to  May  1800. 

Christopher  Gore  (1758-1827)  was  the  son  of  an  opu- 
lent Boston  merchant ;  graduate  of  Harvard  College  in 
1776,  appointed  by  Washington  the  first  district  attorney 
of  Massachusetts ;  commissioner  in  England  to  settle 
treaty  claims  in  1796  ;  charge  d'affaires  in  London  in  1803  f 
governor  of  Massachusetts  in  1809 ;  at  different  times 
member  of  both  branches  of  the  Legislature  ;  senator  in 
Congress  from  1813  to  1816;  donor  of -$100,000  to  Har- 
vard College.  Gore  Hall  is  at  Cambridge  named  in  his 
honor. 

Benjamin  Guild  (1719-1792)  was  a  graduate  of  Har- 
vard in  1769  ;  tutor  there  from  1776  to  1780  ;  a  preacher 
for  a  while ;  kept  a  book  store  in  Cornhill ;  married  Col. 
Josiah  Quincy's  daughter. 

Stephen  Higginson  (1743-1828)  was  born  in  Salem, 
and  was  a  merchant  there  ;  when  in  London  1774-5  he  was 
called  to  the  bar  of  the  House  of  Commons  and  questioned 
as  to  the  state  of  things  in  Massachusetts  ;  he  was  delegate 


12  THE  MASSACHUSETTS   SOCIETY 

to  the  Continental  Congress  in  1782  and  1783  ;  served  as 
lieutenant  colonel  in  suppressing  Shay's  rebellion  and  was 
an  active  adviser  of  Gov.  Bowdoin  in  that  crisis. 

Henry  Hill  was  a  Boston  merchant ;  died  in  1828 ; 
lived  in  a  fine  mansion  on  Summer  street ;  was  representa- 
tive in  the  General  Court  in  1776  and  1789  and  one  of  the 
overseers  of  the  poor  of  the  town  of  Boston.  He  had  a 
store  at  some  central  situation  where  in  1798  certain  seed 
wheat  received  from  foreign  ports  was  distributed  to  the 
trustees  of  the  society. 

Samuel  Holten  (1738-1816)  whose  name  is  also 
spelled  "  Holton, ''  was  of  Danvers  ;  an  eminent  physician 
and  zealous  patriot ;  member  of  the  provincial  congress, 
1774-5  ;  delegate  to  organize  the  Confederation  ;  member 
of  Congress,  six  years ;  of  the  governor's  council,  27  years, 
and  of  the  constitutional  convention  of  1789  ;  also  judge  of 
probate  and  common  pleas. 

John  Lowell  (1743-1802)  was  born  in  Newburyport 
and  represented  that  town  in  the  provincial  congress  ;  rep- 
resented Boston  in  the  Legislature  in  1778 ;  was  in  the 
convention  of  1780  and  secured  the  insertion  in  the  bill  of 
rights  of  the  declaration  that  all  men  are  born  free  and 
equal,  expressing  opinion  that  it  would  abolish  slavery  iu 
the  State.  His  legal  foresight  was  vindicated,  for  when  a 
test  case  arose  it  was  so  adjudicated  by  the  highest  State 
court.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Continental  Congress  in 
1782  and  1783,  and  became  successively,  judge  of  the 
United  States  District  and  Admiralty  Court  for  the  district  of 
Massachusetts,  and  circuit-court  judge  for  the  New  England 
states.  He  owned  and  lived  on  a  large  farm  in  Roxbury, 
lying  between  the  present  Centre  and  Old  Heath  streets. 

Jonathan  Mason,  Sen.  was  a  merchant  in  Boston,  a 
selectman  of  the  town  of  Boston,  member  of  both  branches 
of  the  Legislature  and  of  the  governor's  council.  He  was 
a  deacon  of  the  Old  South  church ;  deceased  in  1798. 

Jonathan  Mason,  Jr.  (1752-1831)  was  a  lawyer; 
graduate  of  Princeton  College ;  member  of  both  branches 


FOR    PROMOTING   AGRICULTURE.  13^ 

of  the  Legislature,  representing  Boston  ;  member  of  the- 
governor's  council ;  member  of  Congress  in  the  Senate 
from  1800  to  1803  and  in  the  House  during  two  terms. 
He  owned  a  large  farm  in  Brookline. 

AzOR  Orne  (1731-1799)  lived  in  Marblehead  ;  was  a 
member  of  the  provincial  and  continental  congresses, 
major-general  of  militia  in  1775  and  1776,  member  of 
both  branches  of  the  Legislature  and  of  the  conventions 
of  1780  and  1788. 

Samuel  Phillips  (1751-1802)  was  a  graduate  of  Har- 
vard in  1771 ;  a  member  of  the  provincial  congress  and 
the  constitutional  convention ;  a  member  of  the  State 
senate,  representing  Essex,  twenty  years,  and  its  president 
from  1786  to  1801,  and  lieutenant  governor  in  1801  and 
1802.     He  founded  Phillips  Academy  in  Andover. 

Samuel  Salisbury  (1739-1818)  was  a  prominent 
merchant  of  Boston  ;  deacon  of  the  Old  South  church,, 
and  lived  in  a  fine  mansion  on  Summer  street  about  oppo- 
site to  Hawley  street. 

David  Sears  (1752-1816)  was  a  wealthy  merchant  in 
Boston  ;  a  patriot  of  the  Revolution  ;  owned  and  fitted 
out  a  privateer  in  1779  ;  was  chairman  of  the  committee 
of  merchants  who  built  a  frigate  in  1798  as  a  gift  to  the 
national  government,  his  subscription  to  that  end  being 
$3,000  ;  a  director  of  the  United  States  Bank,  and  owner 
of  territory  thirty  miles  square  in  Maine,  which  includes 
the  present  towns  of  Searsport  and  Searsmont. 

James  Sullivan  (1744-1808)  was  a  brother  of  Gen. 
Sullivan  of  the  army  of  the  Revolution ;  a  lawyer  by  pro- 
fession and  an  extensive  farmer  in  York  county,  now  in 
Maine  ;  a  member  of  the  provincial  congress  ;  of  the  con- 
vention of  1780  ;  of  the  Continental  Congress  in  1784-5  ; 
judge  of  the  superior  and  probate  courts,  and  governor  of 
Massachusetts  in  1807  and  1808.  He  was  the  king's 
attorney  in  York  county  and  later  attorney  general  of  the 
State  of  Massachusetts,  and  held  rank  as  a  writer  on  legal, 
political  and  historical  subjects. 


14  THE   MASSACHUSETTS    SOCIETY 

Cotton  Tufts  (1734-1815)  was  born  in  Medford  and 
resided  and  practiced  as  a  physician  in  Weymouth.  He 
prepared  the  stamp  act  resolutions  of  that  town  in  1765  ; 
represented  the  town  in  the  General  Court  and  was  presi- 
dent of  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society. 

Charles  Vaughan  (1759-1839)  was  a  prominent  mer- 
chant in  Boston  for  a  considerable  period.  He  was  a 
brother-in-law  of  Charles  Bulfinch,  shared  in  the  Tontine 
Building  enterprise,  and  was  an  energetic  and  persevering 
-man  in  whatever  he  undertook.  He  was  a  trustee  of  the 
Society  as  it  was  originally  organized  and  was  not  absent 
from  any  of  the  monthly  meetings  of  the  board,  excepting 
twice  or  thrice,  until  his  resignation  and  removal  from 
Boston  in  1799.  He  was  a  large  land  owner  at  Hallowell, 
then  in  this  State,  and  built  wharves,  warehouses,  dwell- 
ings and  mills  there  immediately  upon  his  removal  thither, 
and  also  partly  built  a  town  on  the  river  below  Bath. 
These  enterprises  proved  on  the  whole  to  be  unprofitable, 
but  he  prospered  as  a  farmer  in  the  town  of  Hallowell 
and  is  recorded  as  having  been  a  promoter  of  schools  and 
agriculture  there. 

Thomas  L.  Winthrop  (1760-1841)  graduated  at  Har- 
vard in  1780,  was  state  senator  and  lieutenant  governor 
from  1826  to  1833  and  president  of  the  Massachusetts 
Historical  Society,  of  the  American  Antiquarian  Society 
and  of  the  Massachusetts  Society  for  Promoting  Agricul- 
ture. 

Soon  after  the  organization  of  the  Society  large  addi- 
tions were  made  to  the  list  by  admission  of  new  members, 
comprising  names  not  less  eminent.  Among  these  were 
John  Hancock,  John  Adams,  Fisher  Ames,  Nathaniel 
Gorham,  Robert  Treat  Paine,  Nathan  Dane,  Timothy 
Pickering,  James  Bowdoin,  Increase  Sumner,  Caleb 
Strong,  Elbridge  Gerry,  Gen.  Henry  Knox,  Gen.  William 
Heath,  Gen.  John  Brooks,  Gen.  Artemas  Ward,  Rev. 
Manasseh  Cutler,  Rev.  J.  T.  Kirkland,  Rev.  William 
Emerson,  Rev.  J.  S.  Buckminster,  Levi  Lincoln,  Loammi 


FOR   PROMOTING   AGRICULTUEE.  15 

Baldwin,  Josiah  Quincy,  Israel  Thoradike,  George  Cabot, 
Theodore  Lyman,  James  Warren  of  Plymouth.  The  list 
might  easily  be  extended  by  adding  other  contemporary 
and  more  modern  names,  which  would  in  like  manner  be 
significant  of  the  character  of  the  membership.  Those 
cited,  which  mostly  or  wholly  may  be  found  on  the  pages 
of  the  recognized  text  books  of  history,  will  warraat  at 
once  a  presumption,  of  which  the  record  gives  proof,  that 
from  the  start  the  society  exerted  a  wide  and  effective  in- 
fluence. 

A  study  of  the  circumstances  amidst  which  the  society 
began  its  work  brings  conviction  that  those  concerned  in 
it  were  prompted  by  sentiments  of  patriotism  and  philan- 
thropy.    Their  method  of  philanthropy    did  not   intend 
the  bestowment  of  a  dole,  but  the  uplifting  to  a  better 
self-help  of  the  then  chief  industrial  class  of  the  commu- 
nity, comprising  the  bulk  of  the  population.     The  patriot- 
ism of  the  movement  may  be  judged  to  have  had  a  two- 
fold relation  ;  first  a  desire  that  the  new  nation   should 
keep  pace  with  the  old  father-lands  in  applications  of  the 
useful  arts  and,  secondly,  an  aim  to  reach  a  right  solution, 
through  the   way   of  practical    wisdom,    of  the   pressing 
economic  questions  of  the  hour.     There  were   no  party 
questions  Jn vol ved.     Leading  men  of  both  parties  were 
in  the  movement.    Discontent  prevailed,  especially  in  the 
middle  and  western  parts  of  the  State,    which  had   but 
lately  culminated  in  insurrection,  and  all  over  the  State 
there  was  poverty  from  the  pinch   of   which   few    were 
wholly  exempt,  and  which  in  many   cases   approached  to 
destitution.     It  was  easy  to  rail  at  the  government    and 
demand  less  taxes  and  legislation  to  shift  from  particular 
classes  a  due  share  of  the  burden ;  and  it  mast  have  been 
evident  to  men  of  the  type  of  those  above  enumerated 
that  the  only  solution  was   in   a  resort  to    the  primary 
sources  of  wealth,  tha(y  then  most  generally  available  be- 
ing the  cultivation  of  the  soil. 


16  THE    MASSACHUSETTS    SOCIETY 

The  long  war  of  the  Revolution  had  dissipated  the  ac- 
cumulations of  former  times  not  only  by  direct  destruc- 
tion of  property  but  by  onerous  though  unavoidable 
taxation  and  the  cutting  off  of  various  profitable  indus- 
tries, possible  only  in  times  of  peace,  so  that  the  people 
had  been  spending  not  earnings  but  savings ;  and  besides 
all  was  an  enormous  depreciation  of  legal-tender  values. 
Farmers  might  well  complain  of  hard  times,  when,  as  in 
one  instance  of  record,  which  illustrates  the  general  ex- 
perience, a  farmer  sold  a  cow  in  the  spring  for  -^40  in 
continental  money,  but  in  the  fall  could  make  the  sum  go 
no  farther  than  to  buy  a  goose  for  his  Thanksgiving  din- 
ner. 

Some  appeal  to  patriotism  with  reference  to  State  inter- 
ests may  have  been  prompted  by  a  movement  which  began 
in  1788  for  settlement  of  the  Ohio  Territory.  Nothing  of 
record  shows  this  to  have  been  the  case,  but  it  is  at  least 
probable  that  it  was  felt,  that,  to  compete  successfully 
with  the  fertile  West,  and  so  retain  at  home  the  most  vig- 
orous and  ambitious  of  the  farming  population,  the  art  of 
agriculture  must  be  fostered  and  advanced  in  every  prac- 
ticable way. 

But  the  prevalent  poverty  was  not  the  only  adverse 
circumstance.  The  low  condition  of  the  agricultural  art 
was  another.  Farming  in  the  old  way,  when  each  year 
added  tracts  of  rich  virgin  soil  by  the  clearing  of  forests, 
was  no  longer  possible.  No  method  of  adequately  restor- 
ing the  exhausted  soil  appears  to  have  been  generally 
practiced  or  even  known.  It  was  about  this  time  that 
occurred  those  instances  referred  to  in  the  first  report  of 
the  State  Board  of  Agriculture,  in  which  barns  were 
removed  to  get  them  conveniently  away  from  the  accumu- 
lated heaps  of  manure,  which  heaps  were  regarded  simply 
as  a  nuisance.  The  plough  of  the  period  was  a  clumsy 
structure  of  wood,  having  here  or  there  a  cutting  projec- 
tion of  iron  and  a  strip  of  iron-facing  where  the  most 
wear  came.  All  tools  were  heavy  and  cumbrous,  strength 


FOR  PROMOTING   AGRICULTURE.  17 

being  gained  by  increasing  the  weight  of  iron,  and  the  use 
of  steel  being  restricted  to  the  maintenance  of  a  cutting 
edge  where  that  was  indispensable.     Four-wheeled  farm 
vehicles    were    unknown.     Seeds    were    sown,    orchards 
pruned  and  fire  wood  and  timber  cut  with  regard    to  the 
phases    of  the   moon    and   the   contingency    of  the   new 
moon's  lying  upon  its  back  or  standing  upon  its  horn. 
With  fire  places  everywhere  in  use,  suited  to  produce  and 
handle  with  facility  the  largest  quantity  of  ashes,  its  value 
as  a  fertilizer  was  unknown  g-nd  its  use  confined  to   the 
annual  household  leach.     To  plough  shallow  was  the  only- 
rule,  lest  the  manure  spread  on  the  surface  (the  moving 
of  barns  noted  above  being  exceptional)  should   be  car- 
ried below  the  reach  of  the  roots  of  corn  and  vine  and 
there   be   soaked   down    to   unknown   depths    and    lost. 
Neither  neat  cattle,  horses  or  swine  could  be  said  to  be  of 
any  breed,  being  the  progeny  of  creatures  brought  by  the 
:first  settlers,  originally  good  no  doubt,   according  to  the 
standard  of   that  early  day,  and  still  showing  by  chance 
here  and  there  a  meritorious  specimen.     Cattle  were  left 
over  night  in  the  pastures  far  into  the  autumn  and  some- 
times were  exposed    to    wintry   blasts   that   they  might 
*' toughen."     The  use  of  salt  in  curing  hay,  rotation  in 
crops,  the  ploughing  in  of  green  crops  were  unknown. 
Fruit  cultivation  among   the  generality   of  farmers   was 
restricted  pretty  closely  to  the  production  of  cider  apples. 
As  late  as  1823   the  president  of  the   Society   oflScially 
lamented   that   farmers   still    continued  the  practice  "  of 
slicing  up  summer  apples  and  suspending  them  in  front  of 
the  house  to  dry  that  they  might  have   a  comparatively 
insipid  and  tasteless  provision  for   winter,"   and  he  de- 
clared that,  "  till  every  farmer  can  lay  up  ten  barrels  of 
excellent  winter  apples,  for  his  own  use,  we  shall  not  ex- 
pect much  progress  in  other  branches  of  gardening." 

Manifestly  there  was  a  field  for  missionary  work  such 
as  the  new  society  proposed  to  engage  in.  They  had  en- 
couragement in  the  fact  that  important  and  satisfactory 


18  THE   MASSACHUSETTS    SOCIETY 

results  had  followed  from  like  endeavors  of  recent  date  in 
foreign  lands,  but  they  had  also  the  discouragements 
which  usually  attend  such  work  at  the  start  in  the  inertia 
of  conservatism  of  that  moss-grown  sort  that  prefers  the 
old  ways.  The  mass  of  farmers  of  that  period  lacked  the 
quick  intelligence  that  success  in  their  occupation  re- 
quires. Probably  the  instruction  of  the  common  schools 
had  been  but  a  feeble  affair  during  the  preceding  seven- 
teen years.  But  had  all  been  disposed  to  read  and 
experiment  there  were  no  guides  and  no  text  books. 
Neither  in  this  country  or  Great  Britain,  in  1792,  had  any 
newspaper  or  magazine  devoted  to  agriculture  been  issued, 
and  as  respects  the  latter  country  there  is  the  best  author- 
ity for  saying,  that  "  the  first  systematic  work  on  agricul- 
ture that  reallv  advanced  the  art "  did  not  appear  till 
1805. 

Progress  was  slow  in  the  society's  enterprise  at  first. 
In  the  rural  tavern  talk  the  members  were  held  to  be 
mere  "  theoretical  farmers,"  in  contrast  with  the  only 
desirable  sort,  the  '*  practical  farmers  ; "  and  it  was  not 
long  before  the  more  trenchant  term  of  "  gentlemen  far- 
mers," was  applied  to  the  innovators.  Some  of  the  early 
publications  of  the  Society  were  condemned  as  containing 
articles  "  above  the  capacity  of  common  farmers."  Even 
as  late  as  the  date  of  the  first  public  exhibition,  or 
''  cattle  fair,"  of  the  society  one  in  this  frame  of  mind 
complimented  the  managers  of  the  ploughing  match  upon 
"  the  speed  of  their  oxen,"  the  sarcasm  being  in  a  level- 
ling down  of  the  competition  to  the  then  accepted  opinion 
as  to  the  utility  of  horse  racing. 

To  these  various  criticisms  the  officers  of  the  Society 
made  reply  in  their  publications  from  time  to  time,  but, 
conscious  that  nothing  on  their  part  justified  these  taunts 
they  did  not  answer  in  a  like  spirit.  Indeed,  in  an  official 
paper  of  1799,  the  mildness  and  candor  of  the  declaration 
are  such  that  the  case  is  almost  stated  in  the  terms  of  the 
adverse  party.     The  document  says  : 


FOR   PROMOTING  AGRICULTURE.  19 

*'  The  society  possesses  means  of  causing  useful  infor- 
mation to  be  published  and  diffused,  and  to  reward,  in 
some  degree,  the  efforts  of  the  ingenious  and  industrious 
in  any  new  attempts  of  improvement,  which  they  have  in- 
trusted the  trustees  with  the  application  of.  Our  central 
situation,  and  nearness  to  each  other,  give  us  the  advan- 
tage of  frequently  meeting,  and  receiving  information. 
We  do  not,  however,  affect  to  disguise  that  our  usefulness 
is,  and  will  be,  very  much  circumscribed  without  the  aid 
of  the  practical  farmer,  and  that  it  is  only  as  an  organ  of 
information,  that  we  can  be  extensively  of  importance." 

Nearly  every  issue  of  the  society  at  this  early  period 
contains  a  cordial  or  urgent  invitation  to  ''  practical  far- 
mers "  to  communicate  information,  and  in  one  of  them  it 
is  remarked  that  grammatical  defects  are  no  hindrance  and 
that  the  trustees  will  ''  methodize  ''  the  writing  before 
printing. 

1 1  is  proper  to  say  that  this  opposition  or  jealousy  does 
not  appear  to  have  been  general,  but  it  lurked  here  and 
there  and  manifested  itself  in  various  ways  and  must  have 
been  a  hindrance.  The  experience  is  here  recalled  only 
as  being  a  part  of  the  history  of  the  society,  and  as  show- 
ing that  the  early  stages  of  its  march  were  not  a  mere 
holiday  or  picnic  excursion,  but  called  for  some  exercise 
of  the  virtues  of  perseverance,  patience,  magnanimity  and 
good  nature. 

What  has  thus  far  been  said  has  been  with  intent  to 
indicate  the  motive  in  which  the  society  had  its  origin, 
the  character  of  its  founders,  the  standard  in  discussion 
and  action  which  they  sought  to  abide  by  and  the  condi- 
tions under  which  it  began.  These  last,  so  far  as  relating 
to  the  art  itself,  are  to  be  regarded  as  the  zero  point  horn 
which  its  attainment  in  one  hundred  years  is  to  be  meas- 
ured. This  preliminary  statement  cannot  better  be 
brought  to  a  close  than  by  quoting  the  spirited  language 
of  President  John  Lowell  in  a  reply  made  in  1823  to  some 
current  animadversions,  which  throws  light  on  the  then 
past  period,  and  which,  as  descriptive  of  the  career  of  the 
society,  is  likewise  applicable  at  the  present  date: 


20  THE   MASSACHUSETTS   SOCIETY 

If  it  be  asked  whether  the  society  did  much  in  its  in- 
fancy, we  answer  readily  and  frankly,  no.  But  wit  hstill 
more  confidence  we  add  that  it  was  not  their  fault.  The 
institution  was  ahead  of  the  age  and  of  the  intelligence 
of  the  State,  and  of  public  opinion.  Its  two  first  volumes 
will  show  that  the  trustees  were  not  remiss.  Their 
queries  distributed  all  over  the  State,  prove  their  zeal, 
and  intelligence,  and  intimate  knowledge  of  the  real 
wants  of  agriculture.  No  society  in  Europe  or  America 
ever  issued  a  more  valuable  set  of  queries,  and  no  society 
could  at  this  day  improve  them,  except  by  some  trifling 
additions  derived  from  new  discoveries.  But  neither 
Europe  nor  America  were  prepared  at  that  time  for  the 
improvements  and  experiments  which  have  since  taken 
place.  It  is  praise  enough,  that  the  Massachusetts  Agri- 
cultural Society  was  the  third  in  order  of  time,  framed, 
established,  and  endowed  to  promote  the  cause  of  agricul- 
ture (as  we  believe),  in  an}^  part  of  the  world  and  that  it 
never  lost  sight  of  its  object,  and  was  always  ready  to  en- 
courage, and  reward  all  attempts  to  improve  any  one 
branch  of  agriculture,  and  give  publicity  to  any  ingenious 
suggestions  for  the  promotion  of  this  art. 

The  official  record  of  the  first  meeting  of  the  society, 
April  19,  1792,  states  that  Samuel  Adams  was  present,  and 
while  that  point  of  detail  is  omitted  in  the  record,  it  is  in 
the  nature  of  the  case  that  he  called  the  assembly  to  order, 
and,  since  nothing  is  said  of  any  other  person  as  chairman, 
undoubtedly  he  presided  during  the  brief  session,  the  only 
business  of  which  was  the  election  of  a  secretary  of  the 
society  pro  tern.  Time  was  taken  for  consultation  and  two 
adjourned  meetings  followed.  At  that  of  May  31,  John 
Avery,  Jr.,  was  chosen  permanent  secretary,  and  seventy- 
two  new  members  were  admitted.  At  the  adjourned  meet- 
ing of  June  14,  articles  of  organization  were  submitted  and 
what  in  them  was  necessary  for  the  immediate  purpose  was 
adopted,  and  a  permanent  board  of  officers  was  chosen  as 
follows : 

President,  Thomas  Russell ;  vice  presidents,  John  Low- 
ell and  Moses  Gill;  recording  secretary,  John  Avery,  Jr.; 
corresponding  secretary,  Oliver  Smith  ;  treasurer,  Aaron 


FOR   PROMOTING  AGRICULTURE.  21 

Dexter  ;  trustees,  Cotton  Tufts,  Loammi  Baldwin,  James 
Bowdoin,  Christopher  Gore,  Charles  Vaughan  and  Martin 
Brimmer. 

The  names  of  three  who  had  become  members  since  the 
date  of  the  charter  appear.  The  articles  adopted  at  the 
next  meeting,  June  22,  provided  among  other  things  for 
an  annual  and  a  semi-annual  meeting  of  the  society  ;  that 
the  officers  and  those  specially  named  as  trustees  should  be 
the  board  of  trustees,  to  which  board  the  routine  work  of 
the  society  was  to  be  committed,  and  that  an  annual  fee  of 
two  dollars  should  be  paid  by  each  member  of  the  society. 

The  first  meeting  of  the  board  of  trustees  was  held  on 
August  3.  It  was  voted  to  publish  at  once  in  the  princi- 
pal newspaper  of  Boston  an  announcement,  with  the  list  of 
officers,  that  the  society  was  now  organized  and  that  the 
board  would  meet  monthly,  and  soliciting  communications 
of  a  practical  character  from  all  interested  in  the  objects 
of  the  society.  Another  vote  was  passed  recommending 
that  members  of  the  society  in  different  parts  of  the  State 
should  meet  from  time  to  time,  inviting  their  neighbors  to 
join  them,  for  consultations  and  discussions  relating  to 
agriculture,  with  a  view  to  the  gathering  of  information 
useful  in  the  work  of  the  society.  At  this  meeting  was 
read  a  communication  from  Justin  Ely  of  Springfield,  de- 
scriptive of  the  practice  of  farmers  in  New  York  state  in 
the  cultivation  of  hemp.  At  the  next  meeting  several  pa- 
pers were  read,  that  of  the  most  interest,  apparently,  being 
a  recent  English  pamphlet  giving  account  of  methods  of 
treating  diseases,  defects  and  injuries  of  fruit  trees  invented 
by  William  Forsyth,  gardener  to  the  king  of  England.  The 
board  at  this  time  appointed  a  standing  committee  to  ex- 
amine critically  all  papers  and  communications  received 
with  a  view  to  selecting  such  as,  in  whole  or  part,  might 
usefully  be  published. 

The  first  semi-anuual  meeting  of  the  society  was  held  on 
October  3.  A  letter  from  the  printer  of  the  Independent 
Chronicle  of  Boston,    was  received,  in  which  he  offered  to 


22  THE   MASSACHUSETTS    SOCIETY 

publisli  the  advertisements  of  the  society  gratuitously,  a 
proof  of  the  public  interest  wliich  attached  to  them. 
Among  the  new  members  admitted  was  John  Hancock, 
then  Governor  of  the  State. 

At  the  trustees'  meeting  in  November,  subscriptions  to 
the  permanent  fund  of  the  society  to  the  amount  of  $3,363, 
were  reported.  President  Russell,  who  had  subscribed 
$1,000,  added  to  his  gift  such  sum  as  might  procure  a  com- 
mon seal  for  the  society,  and  a  committee  to  report  a  de- 
vice for  a  seal  was  appointed.  At  a  subsequent  meeting  a 
society  seal  was  adopted,  the  design  of  which  was  described 
by  tlie  committee  as  follows  :  ^'  A  plough  should  be  a  part 
of  the  device,  with  a  pair  of  oxen,  connected  by  a  chain  to 
the  same.  A  stone  wmII,  and  a  quick  fence,  with  a  gate  ; 
the  field  beyond  the  gate,  with  sheep  and  cattle;  the  motto 
—Source  of  Wealth  :  filled  upon  the  garter  —  around 
the  margin  of  the  Seal,  Massarhu setts  Society  for  Promot- 
ing Agrivutture^  incorporated  1792''' 

At  the  December  meeting  the  first  instance  occurred  in 
which  the  society  had  called  to  its  attention  an  improve- 
ment in  farming  apparatus.  This  was  in  a  letter  from  one 
who  styled  himself  '•  A  New  Hampshire  Farmer,"  and  the 
article  was  described  as  an  improved  cart  "  for  conveying 
empty  barrels,  and  convenient  also  for  loading  hay."  The 
invention  was  probably  not  of  much  value,  as  no  action  ap- 
pears to  have  been  taken  by  the  trustees  ;  but  the  inventor 
is  entitled  to  mention  here  as  being  the  file  leader  in  a 
procession  of  thousands,  who,  in  the  experience  of  this  and 
kindred  societies  in  this  State,  have  since  come  forward, 
each  bearing  his  peculiar  "  Yankee  notion."  Many  of 
these,  it  need  not  be  said,  were  at  once  or  after  a  brief 
trial,  taken  out  of  the  rank  of  "  notions  "  and  accepted  as 
the  farmer's  indispensable  appliances,  adding  height  to  his 
stature,  strength  to  his  frame,  and  swiftness  and  deftness  to 
his  manipulation. 

At  the  meeting  in  January,  1793,  a  petition  to  the  Gen- 
eral Court  was  prepared,   asking  for  its  cooperation   and 


FOR  PROMOTING   AGRICULTURE.  23 

patronage,  the  appeal  being  based  upon  the  proposition 
that  *'  agriculture  is  at  the  basis  of  those  arts  which  sus- 
tain and  embelUsh  life,"  and  that  therefore,  the  grant  will 
be  a  proper  act  of  legislation  in  seeking  ''  the  best  welfare 
of  the  State."  The  petition  failed,  but  later  was  renewed 
with  good  success.  At  the  meeting  in  March,  1793,  a 
communication  was  received  from  Benjamin  Upton  of 
Reading,  giving  account  of  his  method  of  destroying  can- 
ker-worms and  preserving  the  leafage  of  his  orchard, 
which  in  efficacy,  he  states  toj3e  in  the  ratio  of  five  to  one, 
as  compared  with  what  can  be  done  "  in  the  common 
way."  He  does  not  describe  that  way,  but  his  method  was 
fiubstantially  that  still  followed  of  applying  a  mixture  of  tar 
^nd  oil  with  a  brush.  The  proportion  was  of  twenty  gal- 
lons of  thin  tar  to  one  of  whale  oil,  and  he  put  it  directly 
upon  the  trunk  of  the  tree,  covering  a  space  of  from  two 
ito  six  inches  around  the  trunk  according  as  the  insects 
were  running  in  fewer  or  greater  numbers.  The  oil,  he 
«ays,  besides  keeping  the  tar  from  hardening  prevents  the 
tar  from  injuring  the  bark. 

The  board  voted  to  have  the  letter  printed  in  the  Boston 
newspapers  of  the  next  Thursday  and  then  voted  to  offer 
two  premiums,  the  first  in  the  history  of  the  society.  One 
of  f  50  was  for  *'  the  most  satisfactory  account  of  the 
natural  history  of  the  canker-worm,"  and  the  other  of  1100 
for  the  most  effectual  and  cheapest  method  of  destroying 
these  insects."  The  letter  of  Mr.  Upton  gives  details  of 
his  method  not  indicated  here.  Besides  the  '^  common 
way,"  whatever  that  was,  other  hopeful  remedies  had  been 
proposed  through  the  public  prints  and  otherwise.  At  that 
date  any  of  these  seemed  as  likely  to  succeed  as  that  of  the 
tar  and  oil.  The  object  of  the  trustees  was  to  bring  out 
still  other  methods  that  the  best  might  be  ascertained,  and 
very  logically  they  began  the  business  by  seeking  first  for 
adequate  knowledge  of  the  habits  of  the  insect. 

Time  was  taken  to  consider  what  other  matters  were 
worthy  of  like  attention  and  in  April,  1793,  premiums  were 
offered  relating  to  manure ;  to  the  cultivation  of  wheat ;  to 


24  THE  MASSACHUSETTS   SOCIETY 

the  improvement  of  wild  lands  ;  to  the  raising  of  trees  ; 
and  for  the  most:  beef  from  tlie  fewest  acres ;  the  greatest 
stock  (farm  animals)  maintained  on  the  least  land  ;  the 
best  vegetable  food,  except  hay,  for  wintering  stock  ;  the 
most  and  best  wool  from  a  given  number  of  sheep  ;  the 
best  process  for  making  cider ;  the  best  method  of  making 
maple  sugar,  and  for  butter,  cheese,  flax  and  salted  provis- 
ions. It  was  voted  that  those  obtaining  the  highest  pre- 
mium might  at  their  option  have  the  society's  gold  medal, 
suitably  inscribed.  The  medal  had  for  its  device,  the  seal 
of  the  society  on  one  side,  and  engraved  on  the  reverse 
these  words— "  Presented  to  (A B ,)  1796." 

In  April,  1793,  at  the  meeting  of  the  society  a  vote  was- 
passed  looking  to  an  encouragement  of  the  formation  of 
county  societies  for  promoting  agriculture. 

The  trustees  in  February,  1791,  appointed  a  committee 
"  to  consider  the  expediency  of  procuring  a  piece  of  ground 
for  the  purpose  of  agricultural  experiments.'^  This  project 
ultimately  took  a  somewhat  different  shape  and  led  to  the 
establishment  of  the  Botanical  Garden  at  Cambridge,  in 
conducting  which  the  society  for  some  years  cooperated 
with  the  college.  At  the  April  meeting  of  1794,  an  analy- 
sis was  ordered  of  a  specimen  of  earth,  said  to  be  marl  and 
of  value  as  a  fertilizer.  In  the  following  October  a  report 
was  made  by  Dr.  Cotton  Tufts  to  the  effect  that  by  tests 
with  four  different  acids,  and  with  spirits  of  ammonia,  the 
earth  had  no  chemical  affinity  with  vegetable  or  mineral 
acids,  and  so  was  worthless  for  the  purpose  named.  In 
July,  1794,  a  letter  from  Dr.  J.  C.  Lettsom  of  London^ 
Eng.,  was  read  expressing  his  appreciation  of  having  been 
chosen  as  an  honorary  member  and  enclosing  a  draft  for 
ten  guineas,  which  he  desired  should  be  applied  in  the 
society's  work  in  the  direction  of  natural  history.* 

*John  Coakley  Lettsom,  M,  D.,  was  a  physician  of  extensive  practice  in 
London,  a  man  of  versatile  mind  and  general  scientific  attainments  and  a 
writer  of  repute  on  various  subjects  outside  of  those  pertaining  to  his  pro- 
fession. He  was  a  personal  friend  of  Dr.  Benjamin  Franklin.  He  was  in- 
terested in  agriculture,  and  it  is  recorded  of  him  that  he  was  the  first  to 
introduce  the  mangel-wurzel  into  England,  about  the  year  1773.  He  wa» 
bom  in  1744 ;  died  in  1815. 


FOR    PROMOTING   AGRICULTURE.  25- 

The  trustees'  meeting  of  May  29,  1795,  was  of  special 
interest  as  there  were  awarded  two  premiums,  the  first  ever 
given  by  the  society.  They  were  for  essays  on  compost 
manures.  Upon  opening  the  sealed  packets  the  names 
were  found  to  be  Rev.  Phinehas  Whitney  of  Shirley,  writer 
of  the  essay  for  which  $50  or  the  gold  medal  of  the  society 
had  been  offered,  and  Jesse  Bannister  of  Brookfield,  writer 
of  the  essay  entitled  to  the  premium  of  130.  It  was  voted 
to  publish  Mr.  Whitney's  essay  at  once  in  the  newspapers. 
The  premiums  for  the  most  satisfactory  history  of  the  can- 
ker worm  had  been  earlier  offered  but  the  time  for  competi- 
tion did  not  expire  till  July  1,  1795.  In  August  the  essays 
on  that  subject  entitled  to  the  gold  medal  or  150,  was  found 
to  have  been  written  by  William  Dandridge  Peck  of  Kit- 
tery,  and  the  report  says  that  the  essay  ''  bearing  the  sig- 
nature of  a  triangle  appears  very  ingenious  and  useful,  and 
if  the  author  shall  consent  that  the  paper  containing  his 
name  be  opened  and  the  essay  published,  $25  or  its  equiva- 
lent in  plate  shall  be  given  him."  This  was  consented  to 
subsequently  and  the  writer  proved  to  be  Rev.  Noah  At- 
v^ater  of  Westfield.  In  October,  1796,  awards  were  made 
in  like  manner  for  an  essay  on  the  cultivation  of  wheat  to 
Rev.  Reuben  Holcomb  of  Sterling,  and  for  an  essay  on 
bringing  wild  lands  into  a  state  of  improvement,  to  Freder- 
ick Plympton  of  Sturbridge. 

The  essay  on  canker  worms  by  W.  D.  Peck  undoubtedly 
impressed  the  committee,  as  it  would  any  reader  of  the 
present  day,  as  showing  the  superior  attainments  of  the 
writer  in  his  department  of  natural  science.  In  the 
method  of  discussion,  analytic  treatment,  closeness  of  at- 
tention to  details  and  aptness  and  conciseness  of  diction 
it  does  not  fall  below  the  modern  standards.  When,  there- 
fore, at  the  next  meeting  of  the  trustees  in  September  a 
letter  was  received  from  a  prominent  naturalist  of  New 
Jersey,  asking  if  any  member  of  the  society  could  give  him 
information  on.  a  plant  called  the  chicorium  intybus,  the 
board  at  once  voted  to  refer  the  letter  to  Mr.   Peck.     He 


26  THE   MASSACHUSETTS    SOCIETY 

returned  a  satisfactory  account  of  the  plant,  which  was 
read  at  the  October  meeting.  In  August,  1795,  a  premium 
of  850  for  the  best  essay  ''  on  the  natural  history  of  the 
worm  that  has  lately  infested  cherry,  pear,  quince  and  plum 
trees,  called  the  snail  or  slug  worm, ''  was  offered.  The 
ultimate  date  for  competition  was  to  be  Sept.  30,  1797. 
The  award  was  made  in  the  usual  manner  and  it  was  found 
that  Mr.  Peck  was  again  the  successful  essayist.  It  was 
voted  to  print  the  essay  and  accompanying  illustrations, 
and  he  was  requested  to  superintend  the  engraving.  These 
experiences  probably  had  the  effect  of  drawing  particular 
attention  to  him  and  it  appears,  though  not  on  the  society's 
records,  that  he  removed  to  Cambridge,  where,  in  1805  he 
became  professor  in  natural  history  in  Harvard  College  of 
which  he  was  a  graduate  in  1782.  He  held  the  professor- 
ship till  his  decease  in  1822.  At  an  early  date  he  became 
a  member  of  this  society. 

In  April,  1796,  a  gold  medal  was  awarded  in  the  usual 
manner  to  Rev.  Jonathan  Newell  of  Stow,  for  a  method  of 
draining  ponds.  The  town  of  Stow  has  a  permanent  re- 
minder of  him  in  the  flow  of  the  stream  from  a  pond  in  or 
near  the  centre  of  the  village.  Once  the  flow  was  in  the 
opposite  direction,  and  was  called  "  Strong-water  brook  ". 
The  brook  has  now  only  a  legendary  existence.  It  is  no- 
ticeable that  at  this  early  stage  clergymen  were  very  suc- 
cessful in  gaining  premiums.  This,  it  may  be  concluded, 
was  owing  partly  to  the  circumstance  that  other  experi- 
menters and  investigators  did  not,  in  very  considerable 
numbers,  feel  well  competent  to  express  their  experiences 
and  results  on  paper,  and  partly  to  the  fact  that  rural 
-clergymen  of  that  day  had  to  economize  on  their  meagre 
salaries,  and  personally  engage  in  farming  operations,  and 
so  were  well  qualified  to  speak  from  experience.  At  a 
semi-annual  meeting  in  1798,  the  society  voted  to  request 
Rev.  William  Welles  of  Brattleboro,  Vt.,  to  communicate 
an  essay  on  the  cultivation  of  barley.  He  did  so  and  added 
thereto   full  directions  for  the  makinor  of  small  beer   and 


FOR   PROMOTING   AGRICULTURE.  27 

strong  beer.  This  addition  might  seem  anomalous  on  the 
part  of  a  clergyman  at  this  day  but  it  is  to  be  considered 
that  but  little  use  was  made  of  tea  and  coffee  by  farmers  at 
that  period,  because  of  the  cost,  and  that  small  beer,  or  as 
it  was  usually  called,  "  home-brewed  beer,"  was  in  almost 
universal  use  among  them. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1795  the  society  issued  its 
:first  pamphlet.  It  contained  the  rules  and  regulations  ;  a 
list  of  officers  and  members ;  a  list  of  premiums  then 
pending  ;  the  two  premium  essays  on  the  canker  worm  ;  a 
'history  and  description,  with  results  of  experience  in  Vir- 
ginia, respecting  the  then  newly  discovered  "  forward 
wlieat ; "  the  premium  essay  on  compost  by  Rev,  Mr. 
Whitney;  a  carefully  prepared  and  clear  account  of  the 
method  of  making  maple  sugar,  by  a  farmer  of  Northfield, 
Mass.,  who  dates  the  paper  Feb.  4,  1794  :  home  communi- 
cations relating  to  the  management  of  cows  and  sheep,  and 
to  butter  making  and  tree  cultivation  ;  and  selections  from 
foreign  publications  descriptive  of  the  then  recent  and 
novel  successes  of  Robert  Bakewell  in  England,  in  breeding 
cattle  and  sheep,  and  of  the  methods  in  use  in  England  for 
making  Stilton  and  Cheshire  cheese.  One  or  two  other 
articles  were  in  the  contents. 

Much  attention  was  given  by  the  society  at  the  beginning 
to  the  subject  of  wheat  cultivation.  The  possibilities  of 
grain  transportation,  now  so  familiar,  were  then  not  only 
beyond  conjecture  but  beyond  belief.  A  prediction  of 
them  would  have  been  classed  with  the  story  of 
Aladdin's  lamp.  It  was  doubtless  supposed  that  the 
main  reliance  for  wheat  supply  must  be  the  home  fields. 
Earnest  efforts  were  accordingly  made  to  get  the  best 
and  most  manageable  and  productive  seed  wheat.  The 
records  prior  to  1800  have  mention  of  several  distribu- 
tions of  seed-wheat  among  members  of  the  society.  A 
favorite  seems  to  have  been  the  Early  Virginia  wheat,  pro- 
duced from  a  native  seed,  and  on  one  occasion  145  was 
paid  from  the  funds  for  a  quantity    of  it.     Samples   were 


28  THE   MASSACHUSETTS    SOCIETY 

also  obtained  from  Connecticut,  New  Hampshire,  Quebec 
and  Rio  Janeiro.  Later,  within  a  brief  period,  samples 
were  received  of  wheat  grown  in  Italy,  Egypt,  Southern 
Russia,  Siberia,  Patagonia,  Chili  and  at  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  in  each  case  sufficient  for  testing  by  cultivation. 
Several  of  these  were  brought  by  commanders  of  vessels  of 
the  United  States  navy.  Other  seeds  of  various  kinds 
were  procured  from  distant  places  and  distributed.  A 
special  importation  from  England  of  several  varieties  of 
potatoes  was  made.  In  1792  the  potato  had  not  gone  into 
common  use  in  this  country,  but  it  was  beginning  to  be  ap- 
preciated, and  before  the  close  of  the  century  it  superceded 
the  turnip,  which  had  been  the  chief  vegetable  on  the  far- 
mers' table.  Hope  was  generally  entertained  in  this  and 
other  States  that  silk  production  might  profitably  be  fol- 
lowed. Accordingly,  mulberry  seeds  in  considerable 
quantity  were  distributed  and  premiums  offered  for  mulber- 
ry cultivation.  Among  the  seeds  brought  from  foreign 
ports  by  vessels  of  the  navy  were  Persian  rye  and  "  pom- 
pion  "  seeds. 

During  the  period  indicated  relations  were  established 
with  other  agricultural  societies,  viz.,  the  Middlesex  society, 
when  formed  in  1794 ;  with  the  Board  of  Agriculture  of 
Great  Britain  in  1796  ;  with  the  new  society  at  Sturbridge, 
Mass.,  in  June,  1799,  and  with  the  New  York  society. 
Friendly  letters  were  exchanged  in  each  instance  and 
copies  of  the  society's  publications  were  sent  to  each  socie- 
ty when  issued.  The  most  interesting,  at  the  present  date, 
of  these  experiences  is  that  with  the  British  Board  of 
Agriculture.  In  November,  1791,  William  Strickland,  a 
member  of  that  board,  who  was  contemplating  a  visit  to 
America,  was  proposed  as  an  honorary  member,  and  unani- 
mously admitted.  In  the  following  August  a  letter  dated 
in  Philadelphia  was  received,  in  which  he  acknowledged 
with  thanks  a  notification  of  his  election.  Soon  afterwards 
the  trustees  sent  some  of  the  society's  publications  to  the 
board  in  England,    and  upon  his  return  he  was  authorized 


FOR   PROMOTING   AGRICULTURE.  29 

by  the  board  to  make  due  acknowledgement,  which  he  did, 
writing  from  his  residence  in  York,  and  with  a  graceful 
compliment,  considering  then  recent  events,  dated  liis  let- 
ter, July  4,  1796.  He  expressed  the  desire  of  the  board 
to  cooperate  with  the  society  "  in  promoting  objects  so 
eminently  conducive  to  4he  benefit  and  happiness  of  man- 
kind." The  letter  was  accompanied  with  publications  of 
the  British  board. 

The  trustees  responded  with  a  vote  of  thanks  for  the 
gifts,  and  they  instructed  the  secretary  to  write  to  Mr. 
Strickland,  certifying  to  the  vote,  ''and  send  him  a  small 
cheese-mill,  such  as  is  used  in  this  country."  In  June, 
1797,  a  letter  from  Mr.  Strickland  was  read  in  which  he 
states  that  he  has  received  ''  a  machine  for  breaking  curds 
in  the  manufacture  of  cheese,"  and  says,  "I  make  no  doubt 
that  it  will  meet  with  the  appreciation  of  the  society  of  the 
Board  of  Agriculture  in  England,  as  it  appears  to  me  to  be 
well  calculated  from  its  simplicity  and  efficacy  to  save 
much  trouble  in  the  laborious  and  delicate  operation  of 
cheese  making."  In  September,  1797,  a  letter  was  received 
from  Sir  John  Sinclair,  president  of  the  Board  of  Agricul- 
ture, acknowledging  receipt  of  copies  of  the  society's  pub- 
lications and  a  model  of  a  *■'  cheese-curd  breaker  "  and 
expressing  the  thanks  of  the  board,  therefor. 

In  April,  1796,  occurred  the  decease  of  Hon.  Thomas 
Russell,  the  president,  and  at  the  annual  meeting  of  that 
year  John  Lowell  was  chosen  to  the  chief  office.  Numer- 
ous matters  having  a  direct  relation  to  agriculture  were 
-considered,  and  acted  upon  during  the  first  eight  years. 
Among  these  was  the  formation  of  a  library,  for  which  the 
most  reputable  and  authoritative  works  on  agriculture 
were  purchased,  as  issued.  Many  communications  to  the 
society,  recognized  at  once  as  of  practical  value,  were 
ordered  to  be  published  in  the  newspapers.  In  the  list  of 
things  wherein  action  was  taken  by  publication  or  award 
of  premium  are  the  following :  An  analysis  of  soils,  that 
the  chemical  qualities  of  good  and  poor  soils  being  known, 


30  THE   MASSACHUSETTS    SOCIETY 

what  was  lacking  in  the  latter  might  be  supplied,  if  within 
the  limits  of  reasonable  cost ;  hemp  and  flax  cultivation, 
and  machines  for  preparing  the  fibre  ;  apparatus  for  rapidly 
moving  bodies  of  earth ;  improved  breeding  of  the  native 
sheep ;  cultivation  of  onions  ;  raising  apple  trees  from  the 
seed  ;  the  management  of  bees*;  care  of  orchards  and 
pruning ;  raising  of  hoop-poles  ;  a  description  of  Thomas 
Jefferson's  newly  invented  plough  and  mould-board  ;  and 
improvement  of  wild  lands.  A  method  of  removing  brush 
without  ploughing,  and  another  by  ploughing  and  following 
with  a  peculiarly  constructed  harrow,  were  passed  upon. 

In  an  award  in  this  line  there  is  a  special  manifestation 
of  comity  with  reference  to  the  newly  formed  Sturbridge 
Agricultural  Society.  The  trustees  say,  that  while  the 
writer  of  the  essay  ''  does  not  propose  an  entirely  new 
method,  yet  in  consideration  that  it  has  borne  the  test  of 
experience,  and  being  attested  by  a  respectable  agricultural 
society  in  the  county  of  Worcester,  it  is  adjudged  a  pre- 
mium." At  the  last  meeting  in  December,  1799,  the  trus- 
tees issued  the  printed  list  of  forty-nine  questions  to  which 
President  Lowell  referred  in  remarks  already  quoted.  The 
purpose  of  these  was  to  learn,  through  the  widest  inquiry 
possible,  the  actual  condition  of  agriculture  throughout  the 
State,  both  as  respects  improvements  made  and  defects  ex- 
isting, with  intention  that  by  subsequent  circulation  of 
information,  remedies  for  the  latter  might  be  suggested. 

The  affairs  of  this  early  period  have  been  presented 
somewhat  more  fully  and  minutely  than  is  contemplated  in 
narrating  the  later  history,  wherein  a  statement  of  the 
more  significant  and  conspicuous  facts  will  suffice,  and  will 
bear  like  testimony.  What  has  been  given  certifies  to  the 
zeal,  diligence,  liberality  of  spirit  and  breadth  of  view 
with  which  the  society  began  its  work  ;  that  almost  from 
the  beginning  a  perceptible  impression  was  made  upon  the 
minds  of  the  more  intelligent  part  of  the  community,  and 
tended  thus  towards  a  revival  of  agriculture  ;  and  that  in 
starting  little  rills  of  influence,  which  later  broadened  into 


FOR   PROMOTING   AGRICULTURE.  31 

streams  that  yet   beneficently    flow,  the  "  theoretical  far- 
mers "  were  in  fact  a  very  practical  sort  of  men. 

Steady  progress  on  the  lines  already  indicated  was  made 
by  the  society  during  the  early  years  of  the  present  century 
and  the  board  of  management  showed  special  activity  and 
enterprise  in  widening  the  field  of  usefulness.  Improve- 
ments in  farming  methods  and  apparatus  received  prompt 
and  cordial  recognition,  and  instances  occurred  where  pre- 
miums were  awarded  to  persous  living  out  of  the  State. 
No  premiums  were  given  on  patented  articles,  but  recom- 
mendation of  such  was  made,  when  deserved,  in  the  official 
publications.  The  first  year  of  the  century  brought  out  a 
suggestion,  which,  though  not  immediately  acted  upon,  was 
frequently  discussed  and  gradually  gained  favor,  namely, 
that  it  would  be  an  efi'ective  encouragement  to  farming  in- 
dustry to  establish  near  Boston  an  annual  or  semi-annual 
cattle  fair.  When  the  idea  took  shape  in  1816,  it  was  not 
as  a  cattle  fair  but  a  cattle  show.  The  original  proposal 
was  to  bring  together  farming  animals  and  other  products 
for  sale  on  the  spot,  as  well  as  for  competition  for  premi- 
ums. 

Considering  the  success  and  manifest  utility  which  have 
since  characterized  exhibitfcns  of  this  kind  it  might  seem, 
at  first  glance,  that  the  board  of  management  was  over- 
cautious, or  lacked  insight  as  to  what  would  be  a  popular 
and  taking  thing.  To  judge  rightly  in  this  as  in  many 
other  matters  wherein  the  society  took  action  during  the 
first  forty  years,  the  vast  difference  of  circumstances  then 
and  now  must  be  taken  into  account.  In  the  instance  here 
referred  to  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  thirty  years  were  to 
elapse  between  the  date  of  the  suggestion  and  that  of  the 
first  railroad.  It  is  easy  now  to  assemble  great  throngs  of 
people  and  entertain  them  with  ocular  proofs  of  superior 
farming  drawn  from  a  wide  spread  territory.  But  in  1801 
an  exhibition  at  Cambridge  or  Brighton  of  specimens 
gathered  from  the  nearest  towns  of  Essex,  Middlesex  and 


^2  THE    MASSACHUSETTS   SOCIETY 

Norfolk,  and  an  awarding  of  premiums  in  the  name  of  Mas- 
sachusetts agriculture,  might  have  been  deemed  not  only 
invidious  as  respects  other  counties,  but  inadequate  and  un- 
just as  respects  the  proper  renown  of  the  whole  State  in 
the  particular  of  the  agricultural  art. 

Due   appreciation   of  the   society's   efforts    during    the 
period  alluded  to  depends  upon  having  in  mind  the  exist- 
ing difficulties  of  communication,  as  well  as  of  travelling. 
The  rates  for  letter  postage   then  would   now  be   deemed 
extortionate.     No  newspapers  were  published  oftener  than 
once  a  week,  excepting  perhaps  one  or  two  semi-weeklies, 
and  the  first  daily  paper  did  not   appear   till   1813.     The 
circulation  of    these  was  small  and  no  adequate  space  for 
•diffusion  of  agricultural  information  could  have  been  had 
in  any  of  them.     The  society  was  restricted  in  this  part  of 
its  work  to   pamphlet   issues.     In   1801,   its    publications 
were  distributed  in  some  of  the  remote  sections   through 
the  Worcester,  Middlesex  and  Kennebec  agricultural  socie- 
ties.    In  1812  a  special  effort  was  made  "  to  awaken  a  live- 
lier interest  in  the  important  subject  of  agriculture,"  and 
1,000  copies  of  a  letter  addressed  to  farmers  were  printed. 
One  copy  was  sent  to  each  town  clerk  in  the  State   with  a 
request  that  he  would  read  it  in  town  meeting.     All  the 
clergymen  of  the  ''  inland  towi!s  "  of  the  State  were  made 
honorary  members  of  the  society  and  letters  were  addressed 
to  all  "requesting  the  exertion  of  their  influence  in  aid  of 
the  measures  of  the  board."     These  efforts  were  apparent- 
ly of  good  effect,   for  in  the  next  year   it  was  noted   with 
congratulation    in  one    of  the  issues    of  the   society,   that 
''  num'erous  town  societies  "  had  been  formed  for  promoting 
agriculture,  and  in  another  connection  the  names  of  fifteen 
of    these    are   given.       These,   as   well     as    the   county 
societies,  were  therea  fter  available  for  gathering   and  dis- 
tributing information.     In  1813,  the  society  began  a  serial 
publication  which  was  called  the  "  Massachusetts  Agricul- 
tural Journal  "  and  was  issued  semi-annually. 

In  1801  it  was  voted  to  appropriate  1500  towards  the 


FOR   PROMOTING  AGRICULTURE.  33 

foundation  at  Harvard  College  of  a  professorship  of  natural 
history,  and,  after  proper  negotiations,  it  was  established  in 
1804.  The  plan,  so  far  as  connected  with  the  objects  of 
the  society,  provided  for  scientific  observation  of  the 
growth  of  vegetation  and  of  the  habits  of  noxious  insects, 
that  methods  might  be  devised  for  their  destruction,  and  a 
cultivation,  for  sale  and  distribution,  of  the  seeds  and  roots 
of  useful  plants.  This  cooperation  of  the  society  and 
college  continued  for  twenty-five  years,  when  the  annual 
grant  which  had  been  made  fey  the  State,  in  aid  of  this 
part  of  the  society's  work,  ceased.  During  the  period 
named  the  society  voted  annually  a  sum  of  money  from 
its  own  funds  for  the  work,  and  appointed  each  year  a  board 
of  visitors  to  report  thereupon.  Herein  was  the  origin  of 
the  present  '*  Botanical  Garden ''  at  Cambridge. 

In  the  year  1801  the  society  took  a  very  important  step, 
which  marks  the  beginning  of  a  movement  which  has  gone 
on  with  increasing  benefit  both  to  the  farming  population 
and  the  general  public,  the  movement,  namely,  by  which  all 
sorts  of  farm-bred  animals  have  been  immensely  improved 
in  the  breeding  of  the  most  desirable  qualities.  Neither 
by  a  comparison  of  written  records,  nor  by  listening  to  the 
testimony  of  the  oldest  citizen  qualified  to  speak  on  the 
subject,  can  a  true  idea  be  gained  of  tlie  disparity  between 
the  conditions  prevalent  then  and  now ;  and  it  is  even  far- 
ther beyond  the  mind's  capacity  to  estimate  the  money 
value  of  the  improvement.  Much  of  the  benefit  thus  real- 
ized by  the  whole  people  is  attributable  to  the  endeavors  of 
the  society,  constantly  exerted  during  the  long  lapse  of 
years,  and  much  has  resulted  from  efforts  otherwise  made 
or  prompted.  Here,  however,  was  the  beginning  of  any 
concerted  action,  in  the  ofibr  of  a  premium  in  July,  1801, 
for  sheep  for  breeding  purposes,  "  superior  to  any  breed 
now  in  the  State" — a  premium  of  830  for  each  animal  in- 
troduced into  the  State,  and  if  from  a  foreign  country,  $50. 

In  1802  the  trustees  had  their  attention  called   to  the 
fact  that  Col.  David  Humphreys  of  Connecticut,   had  that 


S4:  THE   MASSACHUSETTS    SOCIETY 

year  imported  100  Merino  slieep.  In  accordance  with  their 
practice  of  ignoring  State  lines  in  specially  meritorious 
•cases,  the  board  voted  to  him  the  society's  gold  medal  of 
-foO.  At  the  next  monthly  meeting  after  the  passage  of 
this  vote  it  was  announced  that,  in  October,  1801,  a  pair 
of  Merino  sheep  had  been  imported  from  France  by  Seth 
Adams  of  Dorchester,  Mass.  The  fact  having  been  verified 
by  a  committee,  a  |50  gold  medal  was  given  him.  From 
the  year  1814  dates  the  practice,  which  has  steadily  been 
followed,  of  importation,  by  the  society  itself,  of  choice 
breeding  animals,  this  first  instance  having  been  from 
France,  of  two  bulls  and  two  cows  of  the  Alderney,  or  what 
is  known  as  the  Jersey  breed. 

In  1805  the  General  Court  recognized  the  public  utility 
of  the  society's  endeavors  by  granting  to  it  a  township  of 
six  miles  square  in  the  district  of  Maine,  in  aid  of  the  pro- 
posed professorship  of  natural  history.  While  the  proceeds 
of  the  sale  of  this  tract  did  not  add  to  the  society's  per- 
manent fund  it  enabled  the  trustees  to  ascertain,  by  a  satis- 
factory test,  what  practical  and  direct  benefit  to  agriculture 
might  be  derived  through  science,  as  applicable  in  botany 
and  entomology.  In  1809  another  township  was  granted 
to  the  society  on  like  conditions.  This  tract  appears  to 
have  been  shared  equally  by  the  state  of  Maine,  through  a 
construction  of  a  clause  relating  to  public  lands  in  the  act  by 
which  Maine  was  separated  from  this  State.  In  the  con- 
tract with  the  college  as  to  the  administration  of  the  pro- 
fessorship it  was  stipulated  by  the  society  that  an  acre  of 
land  should  be  devoted  to  raising  seeds  of  culinary  vegeta- 
bles and  producing  specimens  of  new  and  useful  grains 
and  grasses. 

In  1813  the  society's  permanent  funds,  being  the  sum  of 
what  had  been  contributed  by  members,  with  accrued  inter- 
est, amounted  to  nearly  f 20, 000.  Liberal  payments  had 
been  made  each  year  in  premiums.  As  early  as  1808,  the 
total  of  annual  premiums  offered  was  more  than  !t^l,000. 
In  1814  the  legislature  made  what  is  recognized   in  the 


FOR   PROMOTING  AGRICULTURE.  35 

society's  current  publication  as  "  a  liberal  grant.''  It  was 
an  allowance  of  11,000  annually  from  the  public  treasury 
''  for  printing  and  circulating  their  publications  on  agricul- 
ture only  ;  for  the  raising  of  seeds  and  plants,  or  the  ex- 
pense of  any  experiments  made  by  them  with  a  view  to 
promote  agricultural  knowledge." 

The  satisfaction  which  the  members  of  the  society  must 
have  felt  upon  this  action  of  the  Legislature  was  not  limited 
to  the  pecuniary  benefit  thereby  conferred,  for  in  the  resolve 
itself  as  adopted  and  printed  in  the  official  volume  of  acts 
and  resolves  are  embodied,  as  preamble  to  the  resolve, 
these  gracious  words  of  the  committee  reporting  thereupon: 
''  Your  committee  are  satisfied  that  the  object  and  design  of 
the  society  are  laudable  and  useful ;  that  it  has  a  tendency 
to  diffuse  knowledge  and  promote  a  spirit  of  inquiry  and 
improvement,  and  your  committee  are  also  convinced  that 
the  said  society  by  its  premiums  for  introducing  Merino 
sheep  and  by  encouraging  the  introduction  of  new  seeds 
and  trees  has  already  been  productive  of  a  great  public 
benefit."  In  1816  the  Legislature  granted  $500  and  a  like 
sum  annually  thereafter  to  enlarge  the  total  of  premiums 
given  by  the  society  at  its  annual  cattle  shows. 

In  1807  a  sufficient  number  of  answers  to  the  circular 
of  the  society  containing  the  forty-nine  questions  had  been 
received  to  warrant  publication,  the  result  being  a  pamphlet 
of  thirty-eight  pages.  While  the  number  of  persons  re- 
sponding was  not  as  great  as  had  been  hoped,  the  committee 
of  publication  found  some  satisfaction  in  the  fact  that  the 
towns  heard  from  were  separated  by  considerable  distances, 
making  the  response,  as  a  whole,  more  instructive  than  if 
it  had  come  from  towns  in  a  particular  section  of  the  State. 
The  towns  heard  from  were  Barnstable,  Brookfield,  Brook- 
line,  Concord,  New  Gloucester  in  the  district  of  Maine, 
Marlboro,  Newbury,  Sturbridge  and  Worcester  and  the 
several  towns  represented  by  the  agricultural  society  of 
western  Middlesex.  The  pamphlet  must  have  been  accep- 
table to  readers  of  that  date  and  is  still  historically  inter- 


86  THE   MASSACHUSETTS    SOCIETY 

esting.  Two  or  three  points  may  here  be  noted  as  indicative 
of  the  then  existing  condition  of  agriculture.  The  Marl- 
boro correspondent  in  touching  upon  the  topic  of  woodlands 
sagaciously  remarks :  "  One  half  the  woodland  now  re- 
served would  suffice  if  our  farmers  paid  a  little  more 
attention  to  the  finishing  of  their  rooms.  In  order  to  save 
$20  in  finishing  his  house,  the  farmer  often  subjects  himself 
to  an  annual  expense  of  half  that  sum  for  fuel,  which 
otherwise  might  be  spared,  without  reflecting  that  he  might 
as  well  borrow  money  at  50  per  cent,  to  complete  his 
house." 

The  responses  show  that  at  the  beginning  of  the  century 
a  medium  crop  of  hay  for  an  acre  of  upland  in  Marlboro, 
Concord,  New  Gloucester  and  Newbury  was  one  ton  ;  in 
Worcester,  Brookline  and  Barnstable,  one  and  one-half 
tons  ;  in  Brookfield,  18  cwt. ;  in  western  Middlesex  towns^ 
16  cwt.  A  medium  crop  of  Indian  corn  per  acre  in  the 
same  towns  ranged  from  40  bushels  in  Newbury  to  20 
bushels  in  Barnstable.  Among  the  products  of  the  farm 
sold  for  money,  Marlboro  and  Worcester  name  ''  mules." 
This  breeding  was  a  distinct  advance  upon  the  state  of 
things  existing  a  few  years  prior ;  for  the  first  importation 
into  the  United  States  for  this  purpose  occurred  in  1795, 
when  two  jacks  were  landed  at  Portsmouth,  N.  H.,  being  a 
gift  from  the  king  of  Spain  to  General  Washington. 

The  correspondents  report  that  the  shelling  of  Indian 
corn  was  generally  done  with  a  flail,  though  in  one  town 
the  approved  method  was  by  rubbing  the  ear  of  corn 
against  the  edge  of  a  spade  laid  flat-wise.  But  a  brighter 
day  in  this  particular  had  dawned,  for  already,  in  1803, 
an  inventor  had  gained  the  approval  of  the  board  of  trus- 
tees for  his  newly  contrived  "  corn-sheller." 

In  1802,  after  a  service  of  six  years,  President  Lowell 
declined  a  re-election,  and  Caleb  Strong,  who  at  the  time 
and  during  five  years  following  was  the  Governor  of  the 
State,  was  chosen  president  of  the  society.  He  held  the 
office  until  1805  when  John  Adams,  ex-president   of  the 


FOR   PROMOTING   AGRICULTURE.  37 

United  States,  was  chosen.     Mr.  Adams  was  president  of 
the  society  until  1813  and  Dr.  Aaron  Dexter  was  his  suc- 
cessor.    In  1812,  Josiah  Quincy,  who  for  a  considerable 
period  had  been  a  member,  was  elected  a  trustee  of  the 
society.    Evidences  of  his  vigor  and  versatility  appear  fre- 
quently in  the  record  of  the  next  fourteen  years.    In  1813 
he  contributed  to  the  official  publication  of  the  society  an 
account  of  his  method  and  success  in  cultivating  a  hedge 
fence   of  American   thorn   on  his  farm   in  the  town   of 
Quincy.     It  was   four-fifths   of  a  mile   long  and   in  five 
years  had  attained  a  height  of  five  feet,  and    was  dense 
enough  to  prevent  the  passage  of  cattle.  The  experiment, 
he  said,  was  designed  to  show  what  would  be  practicable 
and  economical  in  those  parts  of  the  State  where  there  is 
a  scarcity  of  stone  for  building  walls.     This  scarcity  is,  of 
course,  no  part  of  the  fame  of  the  town  of  Quincy.  His 
next  important  experiment  was,  however,  intended  for 
local  instruction  in  the  first  instance,  though  by  publish- 
ing the   result   in    the   society's   Journal   in   1816,    the 
instruction  became   general,   and    has   ever   since   been 
followed  by  the  farmers  of  the  State.     He  had  observed, 
he  said,  "  a  universal  prejudice  "  among   farmers  against 
the  cultivation  of  carrots  for  winter  feed  of  cattle.     This 
aversion  was  based  upon  the  amount  of  labor  found  nec- 
essary in  raising  a  small  quantity  of  carrots  for  culinary 
purposes  in  a  garden  bed.     Being,   as  it  would  appear, 
something  of  a  *'  book  farmer  " — for  he  disclaims  any  orig- 
inality in  the  method  —  he  prepared  and  ridged,  substan- 
tially as  the  work  is  now  done,  two  tracts  of  3i  acres  each, 
keeping  exact  record  of  labor  and  other  cost.     The  result 
was  a  yield  of  2,562  bushels  of  roots  on  the  two  lots  at  a 
cost,  including  allowance  for  rent  of  land,  of  'i!<322.     Al- 
lowing a  value  for   16  tons  of  carrot   tops,  as  fodder,  he  • 
figured  the  cost  of  the  roots  at  eleven  cents  per  bushel. 
He  adds  that  the  farmers  of  his  vicinity  had  taken  up  the 
practice  and  admitted  that  the  labor  is  not  greater  than  in 
raising  potatoes  and  the  feed  better  for  cattle. 


38  THE  MASSACHUSETTS   SOCIETY 

For  a  number  of  years  after  the  practice  of  importing 
Merino  sheep  was  begun  the  society's  publications  had 
much  to  offer  of  advice  and  discussion  as  to  wool  and  the 
raising  of  sheep  for  the  shambles,  etc.  One  writer  in 
1813  naively  begins  his  essay  thus  :  "  The  present  high 
prices  of  sheep  are  to  be  ascribed  principally  to  two 
causes :  First,  the  number  of  speculators  in  the  market 
who  buy  to  sell  again  ;  and,  secondly,  to  the  prevalent 
erroneous  practice  in  breeding."  He  goes  on  to  criticize 
the  practice,  saying  that  "  hitherto,  unfortunately,  the 
finest  sheep  have  been  selected  for  the  butcher  and  the 
poorest,  only,  kept  for  breeding."  He  gives  reasons  for 
reversing  the  practice,  but  does  not  suggest  any  remedy 
for  the  other  cause  of  high  prices  paid  by  consumers^ 
which,  as  respects  various  farm  products,  has  not  yet 
wholly  ceased  to  be  lamented. 

In  1814  a  letter  from  Justin  Ely  of  Springfield,  one  of 
the  most  intelligent  contributors  and  members,  was  pub- 
lished in  the  Journal  recommending  the  cultivation  of 
rhubarb  to  save  the  cost  of  medicine,  for  which  the  im- 
ported root  was  used ;  and  he  speaks  of  his  own  success 
with  some  roots  which  had  been  sent  to  him  by  Charles 
Vaughan  of  Kennebec.  In  printing  the  letter  the  editor 
declares  that  there  are  two  kinds  of  rhubarb,  and  re-iter- 
ates by  saying,  '*  we  are  satisfied  we  are  right,'^  and  then 
adds  that  that  which  his  correspondent  has  received  is 
probably  not  the  true  medicinal  root,  though  it  may  have 
some  value  in  that  way.  His  reason  for  this  opinion  was 
that  Mr.  Vaughan  had  given  to  friends  in  Boston  speci- 
mens of  the  other  kind  of  rhubarb,  the  stalks  of  which, 
the  editor  says,  are  "  equal  or  superior  to  gooseberry,  as  a 
preserve  for  tarts."  The  phrase  indicates  a  suspense  of 
judgment  as  to  whether  the  edible  was  liable  to  supercede 
the  gooseberry  or  not.  Evidently  neither  Mr.  Vaughan 
nor  his  Boston  contemporaries  suspected  the  commercial 
value  of  this  garden  novelty,  nor  had  any  prophetic  vision 
of  the  staggering  wains  that  now  daily,  in  the  season,  go 


rOK   PROMOTING  AGEICULTURE.  i"       30 

forth  from  thousands  of  farms  in  Massachusetts  towards 
the  nearest  market,  laden  with  the  gooseberry  substitute. 
Efforts  to  solve  the  wheat-growing  problem  did  not 
cease,  and  in  1814,  four  members  reported  in  the  Journal 
their  success,  and  described  the  method,  in  raising  a  large 
crop  free  from  "rust"  (a  blight  which  the  grain  was- 
thought  to  be  specially  liable  to  in  sea-shore  towns),  name- 
ly, John  Lowell  at  Roxbury,  Josiah  Quincy  at  Quincy, 
Peter  C.  Brooks  at  Medford  and  John  Jenks  at  Salem.  In 
1814  a  gold  medal,  of  |50  value,  was  given  to  Andrew 
Haliburton  of  Portsmouth,  N.  H.,  for  his  newly  invented, 
but  not  patented  churn.  In  principle,  though  not  exact 
form,  it  was  the  same  as  the  rotary  churn  now  in  use. 
The  value  of  cut  feed  for  cattle  was  becoming  understood 
and  in  1815,  the  trustees  awarded  Elisha  Hotchkiss  of 
Brattleboro,  Vt.,  the  highest  premium  for  his  hay  or  straw 
cutter,  and  bought  of  him  his  patent  right  for  the  State  of 
Massachusetts.  Certificates  granting  liberty  to  use  the 
apparatus  were  freely  given  by  the  secretary  of  the  society 
to  persons  in  this  State,  on  application.  Two  years  later 
another  patented  cutter  appeared,  which  was  an  improve- 
ment, and  embodied  the  main  principle  of  that  now  in 
use. 

In  1814  an  article  appeared  in  the  Journal,  with  cor- 
dial editorial  commendation,  relating  to  the  mangel-wur- 
zel beet.  It  was  a  translation  from  "  the  most  approved 
work  on  agriculture  in  use  in  France."  The  vegetable  is- 
termed  in  literal  translation  "  the  root  of  scarcity,"  which 
seems  a  quaint  if  not  ambiguous  name,  until  the  text 
explains  it.  The  statement  is  that  the  Germans,  and  the 
French  who  copied  their  practice,  pluck  the  lower  leaves 
of  the  vegetable  daring  its  four  growing  months  for  suc- 
culent food  for  cattle,  and  that  the  root  will  keep  sound, 
after  harvesting,  for  eight  months,  thus  supplying  the  cat- 
tle the  rest  of  the  year.  Hence,  the  intimation  is  that  a 
liberal  cultivation  of  this  root  will  offset  and  defeat 
scarcity  in  other  sorts  of  feed  during  the  round  year. 


40  THE   MASSACHUSETTS   SOCIETY 

Much  anxiety  was  felt  during  the  period  now  referred 
to  as  to  a  probable  early  scarcity  of  fuel,  and  premiums 
were  offered  by  the  society  for  the  raising  of  forest  trees. 
At  the  beginning  of  the  century  the  highest  premium  was 
awarded  to  Col.  Robert  Dodge  of  Hamilton,  for  raising, 
from  the  seed,  4000  oak  trees.  In  1816  an  elaborate  arti- 
cle on  the  preparation  and  use  of  peat  was  published  in  the 
Journal.  The  editor,  in  a  preface,  remarks  that  much  suf- 
fering experienced  during  the  late  war  might  have  been 
avoided  had  a  knowledge  of  this  fuel  been  generally 
diffused,  and  he  has  the  satisfaction  of  being  able  to  say 
that  ''  in  many  places  through  which  the  Middlesex  canal 
passes,  peat  bogs  were  found  from  20  to  50  feet  deep. 
There  is  undoubtedly  enough  good  peat,  without  using 
the  top  of  the  ground  which  is  loose  and  spongy,  to  last 
the  country  for  centuries.''  The  arrival  of  anthracite  coal, 
about  the  year  1830,  eventually  solved  the  fuel  problem. 

In  1800  the  first  seed-sowing  machine  was  exhibited 
and  recommended  by  the  trustees.  In  the  following 
year  it  was  announced  that  experiments  had  proved  that 
the  exchange  of  seeds  and  roots  between  distant  places  or 
different  climates  was  not  of  special  benefit,  but  that  the 
selection  of  the  earliest  and  best  seeds,  from  the  most 
flourishing  stalks,  and  planting  only  the  best  roots,  were  of 
importance.  In  1814  machines  for  raising  water  for  irri- 
gation, and  others  for  threshing  grain,  were  shown,  but  did 
not  gain  the  approval  of  the  trustees.  In  1816  a  newly 
invented  winnowing  machine  received  their  commenda- 
tion. The  first  cattle  show  of  the  society  took  place  at 
Brighton,  Oct.  8, 1816.  It  was  successful  beyond  expec- 
tation and  was  repeated  annually  upon  broader  lines  in 
the  following  years. 

At  the  close  of  the  ofiicial  year  following  this  event  the 
society  reached  its  quarter-centennary.  The  abbreviated 
record  of  the  period  here  made  is  sufficient  to  evince  that 
it  had  exercised  a  steadily  increasing  influence  and  had 
now  an  active  public  opinion  as  its  auxiliary.     Beginning 


FOR  PROMOTING   AGRICULTURE.  41 

with  conditions  of  general  apathy,  of  more  or  less  piev- 
alent  distrust  as  to  its  intentions,  and  of  incredulity  that 
anything  important  could  be  gained  to  the  farming  inter- 
est, it  had  created  a  feeling  of  confidence  as  to  the  future 
of  the  agricultural  industry  and  excited  a  spirit  of  in- 
quiry. It  had  widely  distributed  thousands  of  pages  of 
printed  matter,  supplying  tlie  best  information  then  obtain- 
able relating  to  the  art  ;  given  impetus  to  the  formation 
of  numerous  co-working  societies,  and  printed  the  essays 
and  contributed  to  the  premiums  of  some  of  the  more 
important  among  them  ;  it  had  introduced  new  seeds  and 
plants  and  choice  breeds  of  farm  animals,  from  foreign 
lands  ;  brought  new  modes  of  farming  into  acceptance 
among  leading  farmers  in  different  parts  of  the  State, 
thereby  exerting  an  exemplary  influence  upon  others  who 
gave  to  books  and  pamphlets  no  welcome  ;  it  had  set  fairly 
at  work  the  inventive  faculty  of  the  land  in  devising  better 
farming  apparatus ;  enlisted  science  to  search  and  exper- 
iment in  the  behest  of  agriculture  ;  and,  by  its  successful 
cattle  show,  had  reached  the  popular  heart  (which  is  al- 
ways responsive  in  beholding  the  novel  and  the  extraor- 
dinary), thereby  entering  upon  a  radically  different  but 
most  effective  method  of  diffusing  agricultural  knowledge, 
the  method  of  "  object  teaching." 

In  this  retrospect  one  event  already  mentioned  may 
briefly  be  dwelt  upon,  since  it  will  recall,  with  special 
distinctness  and  amid  interesting  circumstances,  a  historic 
figure,  and  will  permit,  in  the  way  of  preface,  reference 
to  a  practice  on  the  part  of  the  board  of  trustees  which 
has  been  kept  up  from  the  earliest  years  to  the  present 
time.  The  event  was  the  retirement  of  John  Adams 
from  the  presidency  of  the  society,  and  the  practice  is 
that  to  which  he  alludes  in  his  letter  of  farewell,  the 
holding  of  business  meetings  at  the  residences  of  mem- 
bers. There  being  twelve  members  of  the  board,  the 
custom  in  recent  times  has  been  to  designate,  at  the  be- 
ginning  of  the   year,    for  each    member,    the   particular 


42  THE   MASSACHUSETTS   SOCIETY 

month  when  he  may  expect  the  others  to  be  present  at  his 
house,  to  transact  business  and  to  accept  his  hospitalities. 
The  meetings  have,  therefore,  always  had  a  social  as  well 
as  a  utilitarian  intent.  In  reverting  to  the  fraternal  rela- 
tions thus  established,  and  the  pleasure  he  had  derived 
thereby,  Mr.  Adams  no  doubt  expresses  a  sentiment  com- 
mon to  all  who  have  ever  been  members  of  the  board. 
The  following  is  his  letter. 

QuiNCY,  May  25,  1813. 
Dear  Sir  : 

It  is  not  with  any  enviable  feelings  that  I  find  myself 
under  a  necessity  of  addressing  you  at  this  time,  and  in 
this  manner,  to  request  the  favor  of  you  to  communicate 
to  our  society  my  determination  to  retire- 
As  my  advanced  age  and  indifferent  health  render  it 
impossible  for  me  to  attend  the  meetings  of  the  society  or 
discharge  the  duties  of  my  office  with  any  regularity,  I 
decline  the  future  election  to  the  chair  of  the  Society  for 
Promoting  Agriculture. 

In  taking  a  respectful  and  affectionate  leave  of  the 
Massachusetts  Society  for  Promoting  Agriculture,  of  their 
trustees,  and  of  the  visitors  of  the  professorship  of 
natural  history  and  the  botanical  garden,  I  am  bound  in 
duty  to  express  the  high  sense  I  entertain  of  the  honor 
done  me  by  repeated  elections  to  their  chair,  and  the 
gratitude  1  feel  for  the  pleasure  I  have  had  in  their  con- 
versation in  many  of  the  most  social  and  happy  days  of 
my  life. 

My  best  wishes  attend  the  members  for  their  health  and 
happiness,  and  sincere  prayers  for  the  promotion  and 
prosperity  of  agriculture  and  horticulture  in  Massachu- 
setts and  throughout  the  world. 

John  Adams. 
To  Dr.  Aaron  Dexter, 

Vice  President,  etc. 

The  period  immediately  succeeding  that  now  passed  in 
review  was  prolific  in  things  novel  in  the  way  of  sugges- 
tion, experiment,  invention  and  enterprise.  Nor  were 
the  earlier  subjects  neglected.  Continued  attention  was 
given  in  the  society's  publications,  or  by  the  offering 
of  premiums,  to  mulberry  cultivation.     Much  foreboding 


FOR   PROMOTING   AGRICULTURE.  43 

as  to  the  disappearance,  at  an  early  date,  of  forest  trees, 
was  expressed  and  the  cultivation  of  such  trees  was 
urged.  The  cultivation  of  wheat  was  persistently  clung 
to,  and  premiums  were  paid  for  extra  large  crops  of  that 
grain.  The  utility  of  the  ruta  baga  as  compared  with 
turnips  of  the  ordinary  kind  and  with  mangel-wurzel  was 
much  debated,  the  first  premium  for  a  ruta  baga  crop 
having  been  offered  in  1819.  In  1819  John  Prince,  of 
Roxbury,  an  active  member  of  the  society,  sent  for  publi- 
cation a  letter  describing  a  n&w  pest  which  was  infesting 
apple  trees,  the  "  borer."  He  says,  "  I  mentioned  the 
subject  to  Professor  Peck  and  to  the  corresponding  secre- 
tary (Mr.  Lowell)  and  to  several  others,  none  of  whom 
had  heard  of  this  destroyer  of  the  apple  tree."  He 
recommended  extermination  by  means  of  a  wire,  thrust 
into  the  hole  where  the  worm  is  at  work. 

In  1818  a  letter  was  received  from  a  farmer  of  Fra- 
mingham  giving  account  of  a  large  annual  yield  of  butter 
from  a  particular  cow,  and  of  his  method  of  generous 
feeding.  The  editor  of  the  Journal  commented  approv- 
ingly and  drew  from  his  reserves  a  manuscript  sent  by 
Rev.  Mr.  Packard  in  1799,  the  words  quoted  from  which, 
the  editor  says,  ought  to  be  pasted  up  in  every  dairy  in  the 
State,  viz. :  ''  Three  cows  [on  a  farm  in  Marlboro]  pro- 
duced 278  pounds  of  butter.  They  were  a  more  produc- 
tive dairy  than  six  usually  are  with  ordinary  feed.  Far- 
mers egregiously  mistake  when  they  overstock  their 
farms.  Were  dairies  always  estimated  by  the  pails  of 
milk  they  produce,  instead  of  the  number  of  cows,  many 
a  farmer's  wife  instead  of  asking  her  husband  to  buy 
another  cow  would  urge  him  to  sell  two,  to  enrich  the 
dairy."  During  the  same  year  a  Norfolk  county  farmer 
protests  against  the  prevalent  recklessness  in  pruning 
fruit  trees,  by  means  of  a  hatchet  or  bill  hook,  lopping  off 
branches  six  or  eight  inches  from  the  limb  and  leaving 
the  remnant  to  rot.  He  urges  that  pruning  be  done  in 
May  or  June  when  the  sap  is  flowing,  instead  of  March, 


44  THE   MASSACHUSETTS  SOCIETY 

^s  was  usual,  and  cutting  the  branch  smoothly  off,  close 
to  the  limb,  covering  the  cut  with  a  cement  of  tar,  bees- 
wax and  ochre ;  also  the  cutting  away  of  the  sky-point- 
ing young  branches,  which  he  calls  "  gluttons,"  and  giv- 
ing the  horizontal  or  fruit-bearing  branches  a  chance. 

In  1819  the  importance  of  statistics  of  agriculture  was 
emphatically  affirmed  in  the  Journal,  with  incidental 
-commendation  of  a  new  variety  of  early  corn  cultivated 
by  Samuel  W.  Pomeroy  of  Brighton,  vice  president  of  the 
society.  The  main  point  of  the  argument  was  that  if  far- 
mers had  knowledge  of  the  magnitude  of  the  particular 
interest  affected  favorably  or  adversely,  they  would  be 
more  generally  impelled  to  active  measures.  The  remark 
B.8  to  corn  was  : ''  Every  one  knows  that  the  crops  of  Indian 
oorn  were  generally  cut  off  by  frosts  in  1816.  Had  it 
been  known  Avhat  quantity  of  Indian  corn  is  usually 
raised  in  a  season  in  the  county  of  Middlesex,  for  exam- 
ple, the  loss,  in  1816,  would  probably  have  been  so  much 
more  felt  that  more  attention  would  have  been  paid  to  the 
recommendation  of  a  species  of  corn  cultivated  by  Mr. 
Pomeroy  of  Brighton,  and  others,  not  a  field  of  which 
suffered  by  frost  that  year.  This  species,  besides  bearing 
R  large  and  fruitful  ear,  husks  itself  when  ripe."  In  the 
Journal  of  the  following  year  Mr.  Pomeroy  discussed  the 
importance  of  the  corn  crop  and  recommended  extensive 
cultivation.  Having  recognized  in  his  article  certain 
modifying  considerations,  especially  a  due  regard  to  rota- 
tion of  crops,  he  added  this  interesting  remark  :  "  But  I 
wish  at  the  same  time  to  hold  up  to  view  the  golden 
fleece  found  by  our  Pilgrim  Fathers  on  their  first  landing, 
and  which,  had  it  not  existed  or  continued  with  their 
descendants  nearly  a  century  after,  the  fair  inheritance 
we  now  possess,  in  the  opinion  of  many  sound  political 
economists,  could  not  have  been  transmitted  to  us." 

In  1824  overtures  were  made  by  the  managers  of 
Dummer  Academy  in  Newbury,  for  bestowment  of  the 
patronage  of  the  society  in  conducting  an  experimental 


FOR   PROMOTING  AGRICULTURE.  45* 

farm  there.  It  was  implied  in  the  proposition  that  agricul- 
tural instruction  should  become  a  part  of  the  curriculum  of 
tlie  institution,  a  foreshadowing  of  the  State  Agricultural 
College  of  a  later  date.  The  trustees  of  the  society  re- 
sponded with  cordial  approval  of  what  was  suggested,  and 
said  that  they  had  previously  recommended  something  of 
the  kind  to  the  Legislature.  They  judged,  however,  that 
such  an  enterprise  ought  to  be  under  the  direction  and  con- 
trol of  the  State  authorities. 

In  1830,  after  conference  ^nd  agreement  with  the  offi- 
cers of  Harvard  College,  the  connection  of  the  society 
with  the  Botanic  Garden  was  severed,  and  it  went  into  the 
sole  charge  of  the  college.  This  step  appears  to  have 
been  taken  in  consequence  of  the  action  of  the  Legisla- 
ture in  refusing  further  grants  of  money  for  the  purpose. 
The  $600  received  from  the  State  that  year  was  paid  over 
to  the  college,  and  the  fund  derived  from  sale  of  the  Maine 
townships  became  vested  in  the  college.  No  doubt  much 
benefit  to  agriculture  had,  directly  and  indirectly,  resulted 
from  this  cooperation,  during  26  years,  of  the  college  and 
the  society.  The  corresponding  secretary  of  the  society 
from  1798  to  1806  was  Rev.  J.  T.  Kirkland,  and  he  con- 
tinued to  serve  as  a  trustee  until  1810,  when  he  became 
president  of  the  college.  He  served  in  that  office  until 
1827  and  manifestly  took  a  personal  interest  in  the  botan- 
ic-agricultural department  of  the  college.  This  is  indi- 
cated, in  part,  by  various  payments  made  to  him  during 
his  presidency,  for  seeds,  plants,  etc.,  and  noted  in  the 
Society's  records.  In  1836  the  trustees,  after  investiga- 
tion by  a  committee,  offered  premiums  for  the  cultivation 
of  the  sugar  beet  and  the  production  of  sugar  therefrom. 

In  1824  the  Journal  contained  a  long  article  on  road 
making,  giving  a  particular  description  of  the  method 
employed  in  England  by  John  Loudon  McAdam.  The 
relation  of  this  improvement  to  agriculture  was  indicated 
by  the  editor  in  quoting  the  remark  of  a  respectable  far- 
mer that  "  fuel  is  now  (in  3  824)  cheaper  in  Boston  than 


46  THE  MASSACHUSETTS   SOCIETY 

30  years  ago  ;"  the  reason  being  that  roads  had  been  so 
improved  that  it  had  become  more  of  an  object,  to  a  wider 
district  of  country,  to  bring  wood  to  the  capital.  This 
improvement  of  roads  had  not  been  by  the  McAdam 
method ;  but  the  point  of  the  editorial  comment  was  that 
still  better  roads  would  make  the  great  market  town  still 
more  accessible  to  the  farming  population,  for  bringing 
all  their  products.  In  1827  the  Journal  published  an 
article  of  twenty-five  pages  length  which  was  mainly  a 
description  of  the  project,  then  under  consideration,  for 
building  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  railroad.  An  official 
survey  had  not  been  made  ;  but  it  is  editorially  remarked 
that  one  had  been  made  in  the  State  of  Massachusetts  for 
a  more  difficult  road  from  Boston  to  Hudson  river,  and 
that  the  stock  already  subscribed  for  much  exceeded  the 
estimate  of  cost.  An  official  report  on  this  survey  had 
not  been  published ;  but  the  facts  developed  in  the  Balti- 
more preliminary  report  were  deemed  important  to  the 
farmers  of  Massachusetts,  as  respects  facility  in  getting  to 
market.  The  great  speed  with  which  journeys  may  be 
performed  and  freight  conveyed  was  held  up  to  admira- 
tion, and  instances  in  English  experience  were  cited.  By 
an  engine  often  horse-power,  it  is  said  that,  in  one  instance, 
50  tons  of  goods  were  carried  on  a  level  road  at  the  rate 
of  six  miles  per  hour,  and  lighter  cars  for  conveying  pas- 
sengers were  moved  at  twelve  or  fourteen  miles  per  hour. 
The  cost  of  the  Quincy  granite  railway  is  stated  at 
111,052.98  per  mile,  which  was  believed  to  be  one-third 
more  than,  in  1827,  would*  be  the  cost. 

Soon  after  1820  were  exhibited  at  one  or  another  of 
the  society's  annual  cattle  shows,  and  gained  official  ap- 
proval, a  newly  invented  corn-cracking  mill,  new  devices 
for  a  corn  sheller  and  a  hay  cutter,  a  new  style  of  plough 
for  paring  or  slicing  meadow. land,  and  a  flax-seed  separa- 
tor. In  1818  a  premium  of  |25  was  paid  for  a  threshing 
machine,  but  it  was  not  an  entirely  satisfactory  apparatus, 
as  special   efforts  were  made  about  the  same  time  to  get 


FOR  PROMOTING   AGRICULTURE.  47 

something  less  expensive  and  better  for  the  purpose  than 
had  been  found ;  and,  among  other  things  done,  a  letter 
was  written  to  Thomas  Jefferson,  asking  for  a  description 
of  a  threshing  machine  used  by  him,  and  his  opinion  of  it. 
In  1822  a  premium  of  175  was  paid  for  Gregg  &  Hale's 
threshing  machine.  In  1824  a  lengthy  description  was 
given  in  the  Journal  of  a  "foreign  invention  not  much 
known  in  this  country,  called  the  hydraulic  ram  " ;  and 
the  apparatus  is  recommended  as  serviceable  where  irriga- 
tion is  desired,  and  for  farms  properly  situated  as  respects 
a  head  of  water,  as  being  cheaper  than  the  cost  of  a  well 
and  pump,  and  yielding  a  water  supply  without  manual 
labor. 

More  than  in  the  case  of  the  threshing  machine,  solici- 
tude was  manifested  for  many  years,  by  the  trustees,  for 
the  improvement  of  the  plough — that  implement  which  is 
primary  in  all  agricultural  operations,  and  which,  in  its 
rudest  forms,  has  been  said  to  mark  the  beginning  of 
human  civilization.  During  a  few  years  a  premium  was 
offered  "  to  the  person  who  shall  exhibit  the  best  plough 
for  common  purposes,  of  an  improved  construction,  and  of 
his  own  invention."  Ploughs  were  imported  from  Eng- 
land, in  one  instance  by  the  society,  and  in  others  by  lead- 
ing members,  in  the  hope  that  the  right  model  might  be 
found  ;  but  no  important  gain  appeared  in  the  demonstral- 
tions  of  either  American  or  English  ingenuity,  in  this  line, 
until  a  date  which  will  be  named  below.  The  society's 
importation  was  made  in  1810,  but  no  commendatory 
report  of  the  operation  of  the  plough  appears.  At  the 
first  public  "  ploughing  match,"  given  by  the  society  in 
1817,  an  English  plough  belonging  to  one  of  the  members 
and  officers  of  the  society,  John  Prince  of  Roxbury,  was 
used  in  the  competition,  which  in  part,  of  course,  had  to 
do  with  the  skill  of  the  ploughman  and  driver.  No 
superiority  appeared  in  the  plough ;  for  it  may  be  as- 
sumed, from  the  well  known  character  of  Mr.  Prince,  that 
he    provided    competent    manual   skill.     Several   other 


48  THE   MASSACHUSETTS    SOCIETY 

ploughs  of  the  home-made  sort  did  as  well,  and  two  did 
better ;  and  for  their  work  the  premiums  were  awarded. 
The  later  records  of  the  society  indicate  that  the  first 
satisfactory  plough  originated  in  this  country,  as  certainly 
did  the  main  idea  to  which  the  improvement  of  the  in- 
strument is  traceable. 

While  the  evolution  of  the  plough  from  the  primitive 
condition  in  which,  as  already  described,  it  existed  in  1792y 
is  not  attributable  to  any  measures  taken  by  the  society, 
there  is  warrant  for  saying  that  an  early  and  prominent 
member  of  the  society  had  some  share  in  promoting  the 
improvement  witnessed  during  the  first  twenty  years  of  the 
present  century.  The  story  of  that  advance  in  the  plough- 
making  art  is  so  intrinsically  interesting,  so  pertinent  to 
the  general  theme  here  under  consideration,  and,  in  proper 
narration,  is  brought  so  closely  home  to  the  society  itself, 
that  it  cannot  be  deemed  a  digression  briefly  to  repeat  it. 

The  "  main  idea  "  alluded  to  above,  was  given  to  the  pub- 
lic by  Thomas  Jefferson,  througii  letters  addressed  by  him 
to  the  French  Academy  and  to  the  president  of  the  British 
Board  of  Agriculture  in  1798.  Mr.  Jefferson's  thoughts 
were  first  drawn  to  the  subject  in  1T88.  Travelling  that 
year  in  Lorraine,  in  France,  he  frequently  alighted  from 
his  carriage  to  watch  the  operation  of  the  ploughs  in  use  in 
the  fields,  and,  as  a  result  of  his  observations,  entered,  at 
the  time,  the  following  in  his  diary  :  '•  The  ofiices  of  a 
mould-board  are  to  receive  the  sod  after  the  share  has  cut 
under  it,  to  raise  it  gradually  and  to  reverse  it.  It  should 
be  as  wide  as  the  furrow  and  of  a  length  suited  to  the 
construction  of  the  plough." 

In  his  letter  to  the  president  of  the  British  Board  he 
elaborates  this  idea  in  description,  and  compares  the  action 
t)f  the  mould-board  to  the  movement  of  two  wedges,  so  com- 
bined as  to  present  a  curved  surface.  The  function  of  one 
wedge,  he  says,  is  to  lift  so  much  of  the  sod,  or  slice  of 
earth,  as  is  necessary  to  the  full  height  required,   and  the 


FOR  PROMOTING   AGRICULTURE.  49 

function  of  the  other  is  to  exert  force  laterally  and  oblique- 
ly to  carry  the  sod  so  that  its  upper  edge  shall  go  beyond 
the  perpendicular,  that  it  may  be  inverted  by  its  own 
weight.  And  he  adds  that  the  form  of  the  mould-board 
must  be  such  as  to  present  in  its  passage  the  least  possible 
resistance,  and  so  require  the  minimum  of  moving  power. 
His  further  proposition  is  that  a  mould-board  of  this  com- 
pound-wedge sort  can  be  constructed  according  to  a  mathe- 
matical formula  and  by  a  process  so  exact,  that,  in  the 
hands  of  "  any  common  workman  its  form  will  not  vary 
the  thickness  of  a  hair."  He  gives  in  detail  a  mathemati- 
cal analysis  of  the  problem  and  a  description  of  the  method 
of  manufacture.  He  has  in  mind  in  this  description  a 
wooden  mould-board,  and  says  that  in  practice  it  works 
well  and  that  he  has  several  such  ploughs  in  use  on  his 
farms.  In  his  communication  to  the  French  Academy  he 
said  that  it  would  be  well,  having  by  the  process  wrought 
out  a  perfect  mould-board  in  wood,  to  use  it  as  a  pattern  for 
producing  working  mould-boards  of  cast-iron,  and  ex- 
pressed intention  to  have  such  made  for  his  own  use. 

The  difficulty  everywhere  had  been  that  no  two  mould- 
boards  were  alike  ;  that  the  most  skillful  plough-maker 
could  not  duplicate  another's  work,  nor,  "  except  by  good 
luck,"  repeat  his  own  successes  ;  and  that  "  when  the  mak- 
ers of  good  ploughs  died,  their  art  died  with  them."  The 
merit  of  the  discovery  made  by  Mr.  Jefferson  was  recog- 
nized by  both  the  institutions  named.  An  authoritative 
writer  upon  the  subject  says  that  the  credit  to  be  given 
him  must  be  restricted  to  his  demonstration  that  ploughs 
could  be  made  by  rule,  and  to  the  actual  discovery  of  one  of 
the  rules  that  are  applicable  to  the  formation  of  the  mould- 
board. 

In  an  official  printed  list  of  persons'recognized  as  *'  origi- 
nal members  "  of  the  Massachusetts  Society  for  Promoting 
Agriculture,  appears  the  name  of  Timothy  Pickering.  At 
the  date  of  the  organization,  and  for  many  years  afterwards^ 
he  resided  near  Philadelphia,  and  was  also  a  member  of  the 


60  THE   MASSACHUSETTS    SOCIETY 

agricultural  society  of  that  place.  Oue  or  two  communica- 
tions were  received  from  him  by  the  Massachusetts  society 
at  this  period,  and  after  he  became  finally  domiciled  in  this 
State  he  was  a  frequent  correspondent.  He,  also,  was  an 
observer  and  student  of  the  plough,  but  bestowed  the  re- 
sults of  his  thinking  in  conversation,  and  in  letter  writing 
to  friends,  as  opportunity  might  invite,  without  distinctly 
claiming  to  be  a  discoverer  of  new  principles  of  plough 
construction,  nor  attempting  anything  concrete  in  that  line. 
In  one  of  his  letters  he  wrote  thus  : 

My  employments  in  the  war  of  the  Revolution  having 
caused  me  to  take  my  family  to  Philadelphia,  I  remained 
there  after  its  termination.  During  four  years  I  lived  in 
the  country  and  paid  some  attention  to  husbandry.  One 
day,  learning  to  hold  a  plough  (a  good  Pennsylvania  plough 
of  that  period),  I  observed  that  the  earth,  which  was  moist 
enough  to  be  adhesive,  filled  the  hollow  of  the  mould-board 
and  assumed  a  straight  line  from  its  fore-end  near  the 
point  of  the  share,  to  its  upper  projecting  hind  corner,  and 
that  it  maintained  that  same  straight  line.  It  then  struck 
me  that  this  straight  line  should  exist  in  every  mould-board 
and  direct  its  curvature. 

At  a  subsequent  period  when  in  Philadelphia,  visiting 
Mr.  John  B.  Bordley,  vice  president  of  the  Philadelphia 
Agricultural  Society,  he  handed  me  a  small  model  of  a 
mould-board  which  Mr.  Jefferson  had  left  with  him.  At 
first  glance  I  saw  the  straight  line  before  mentioned  govern- 
ing its  form,  and,  asking  Mr.  Bordley's  daughter,  then  at 
her  needle,  for  a  piece  of  thread,  I  stretched  it  from  the 
lower  fore  part  of  the  mould-board  to  its  right  upper  over- 
hanging fore  corner.  ^'  Here,"  I  said,  to  Mr.  Bordley, 
"  is  the  principle  on  which  this  mould-board  is  formed." 

I  have  given  this  detail  to  explain  the  opinion  I  now  ex- 
press, that  the  straight  line  therein  described  is  essential  to 
the  form  of  the  mould-board  of  the  least  resistance. 
Around  this  line  the  curvature  should  be  formed.  And, 
by  placing  the  lower  edge  or  bottom  of  the  mould-board  on 
a  level  floor,  if  another  straight  line  be  laid  transversely  on 
the  fore  end  or  point  of  the  mould-board  and  moved  regu- 
larly back  on  its  face,  in  a  plane  perpendicular  to  the  hori- 
zon, it  will  touch  the  mould-board  in  its  whole  breadth, 
throughout  its  whole   length,   provided   the    curvature  be 


roil   PROMOTING   AGRICULTURE.  51 

correct.  In  a  word,  the  curvature  will  be  a  portion* of  a 
spiral  screw.  Take  a  large  screw  augur  for  an  exemplifi- 
cation. No  earth  can  be  left  on  such  a  mould-board  ;  for 
every  succeeding  portion  of  earth  which  the  plough  raises 
pushes  off  that  which  is  on  the  transverse  straight  line  be- 
hind it,  and  the  face  of  the  mould-board  consists  (is  made 
up  mathematically  speaking)  of  an  infinite  number  of  such 
tranverse  straight  lines. 

The  angle  which  the  straight  line  should  form  with  the 
sole  of  the  plough  is  another  material  point,  to  be  discov- 
ered by  experiments,  and  experiments  are  also  necessary  to 
learn  the  proper  angle  of  the  essential  straight  line  with 
the  land  side  of  the  plough,  or  to  decide  where  lies  the  just 
medium  of  breadth,  of  angle  and^ength  of  mould  board. 

Col.  Pickering  does  not  give  the  date  of  his  "  learning  to 
hold  the  plough,"  other  than  by  saying  that  it  was  soon 
after  the  close  of  the  war.  His  experience  must  have  been 
nearly  contemporaneous  with  that  of  Mr.  Jefferson  in 
Lorraine.  It  is  noticeable  that  the  two  observers  reached  a 
like  conclusion  by  starting,  mentally,  from  opposite  positions. 
Mr.  Jefferson  began  with  the  thought  that  in  the  plough 
there  were  two  diversely  acting  wedges,  one  to  lift  and  the 
other  to  thrust.  To  blend  these  two  into  a  properly  hollowed 
or  curved  surface  was  his  problem.  Mr.  Pickering  began 
with  the  thouglit  of  the  straight  line  in  which  the  receding 
earth  moved  over  the  mould-board,  and,  in  imagination,  on 
that  basis,  shaped  an  ideal  mould-board.  When  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son's model  was  called  to  his  attention  he  saw  his  ideal 
realized,  and  with  reference  to  the  straight  line,  exclaimed, 
"  Here  is  the  principle  on  which  this  mould-board  is 
formed-"  But  it  was  not  so.  Mr.  Jefferson  did  not  begia 
with  a  straight  line  and  around  it  form  the  proper  curvature, 
but  began  with  the  outsides  of  his  two  co-working  wedges, 
and  by  mathematics,  proceeded  inward  until  the  two  were 
blended  ;  and  that  blending  proved  to  be  the  straight  line 
with  which  Mr.  Pickering  began.  The  coincidence  was 
inevitable,  since  the  reasoning  in  each  case  had  reference 
to  mathematical  or  geometrical  laws. 

This  view  of  the  matter  is  confirmed  by  a  competent 


52  THE   MASSACHUSETTS    SOCIETY 

critic,  a  contributor  to  one  of  the  publications  of  the  Ne\sr 
York  Agricultural  Society,  who,  in  discussing  the  question 
of  the  degree  of  originality  in  a  plough  or  mould-board 
pattern  designed  by  Jethro  Wood,  a  noted  New  York  in- 
ventor, having  pointed  out  what  part  of  the  design  was 
original,  says:  "It  is  evident  that  Mr.  Wood  had  no  claim 
as  the  inventor  of  a  cast-iron  plough,  because  he  had  been 
anticipated  in  this  by  Newbold  and  several  others.  He 
could  not  claim  the  vertical  straight  lines,  as  he  had  been 
anticipated  in  these  by  Jefferson.  He  could  not  claim  the 
transverse  line,  for  Col.  Pickering  had  laid  down  this  line, 
long  before  him,  on  theoretical  grounds,  and  Jefferson,  with- 
out any  theory,  had  adopted  it  in  practice.''  It  is  manifest 
that  this  writer  does  not  apply  the  word  "  transverse," 
descriptively,  in  the  same  way  that  Col.  Pickering  did ;  what 
he  calls  vertical  lines  are  the  transverse  lines  of  Col. 
Pickering.  Also,  that  in  the  expression,  ' 'Jefferson  with- 
out any  theory,''  he  means,  without  any  theory  as  respects 
the  particular  line. 

The  first  development  of  plough-making  upon  the  new 
principle,  in  this  country,  was  made  chiefly  in  New  York 
and  New  Jersey.  Besides  Newbold  and  Wood,  already 
mentioned,  E.  A.  Stevens,  David  Peacock,  Zadock  Harris 
and  Henry  Burden,  all  of  the  same  region,  gained  some 
Celebrity  as  plough-makers  or  designers.  Of  the  two  ex- 
planations of  proper  plough-construction,  as  an  abstract 
problem,  that  of  Col  Pickering,  using  for  a  primary  illus- 
tration the  surface  of  an  augur  twist,  rather  than  that  of 
Mr.  Jefferson,  in  which  the  illustration  or  comparison  is  to 
the  blending  of  a  horizontal  with  a  vertical  wedge,  seems 
more  likely  to  be  grasped  by  a  practical  .or  working  me- 
chanic ;  and  it  is  not  an  unreasonable  surmise  that  some  of 
Col.  Pickering's  oral  or  written  commentaries  may  have 
drifted  across  the  Pennsylvania  border  and  assisted  those 
mechanics  in  elucidating  and  embodying  the  Jeffersonian 
idea. 

The  earliest  of  these  plough  makers  was   Charles  New- 


FOR   PllOMOTING   AGRICULTURE.  53^ 

bold  of  New  Jersey,  who,  as  remarked  above,  was  the  first 
to  make  a  mould-board  wholly  of  cast-iron.  Prosperity  did 
not  attend  him,  because  of  a  local  superstition  ;  for  it  is 
said,  in  reference  to  his  plough,  that  "  the  farmers  had  in 
some  way  imbibed  the  strange  notion  that  the  cast-iron 
plough  poisoned  the  land,  injured  its  fertility,  and  promoted 
the  growth  of  weeds.''  Bat  towards  the  year  1817  Jethro 
Wood  triumphed  over  this  prejudice,  and  ploughs  of  his- 
design  had  a  very  extensive  sale.  All  these  plough  makers 
made  certain  variations  from,  ^r  additions  to,  what  the  strict 
terms  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  description  call  for.  Indeed  Mr. 
Jefferson  himself  stated,  subsequently  to  his  first  announce- 
ment, that  he  had  so  done  in  ploughs  made  for  his  own  use. 
His  object  was  to  better  the  plough  for  his  own  farm  work  ; 
theirs  to  achieve  some  improvement  upon  which  to  base  a 
claim  for  a  patent.  But  the  main  principle  was  held  to, 
as  appears  in  what  was  said  above  as  to  the  degree  of  origi- 
nality in  Wood's  plough.  Of  ploughs  of  the  Wood's^ 
pattern  nearly  7000  were  sold  in  1817  and  the  two  follow- 
ing years,  and  of  these  more  than  1,000  went,  in  the  year 
1818,  to  Virginia.  In  the  period  immediately  following 
there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  Virginia's  annual  pur- 
chase was  less ;  and,  if  not  the  actual  numbers,  the  general 
fact  could  hardly  fail  to  become  known  to  Mr.  Jefferson,, 
and  must  have  been  a  very  gratifying  circumstance  of  his 
declining  years. 

These  New  York  ploughs,  of  one  make  or  another,  soon 
reached  Massachusetts,  and,  judging  by  a  description  given 
in  1820,  by  a  newspaper  correspondent,  who  resided  appar- 
ently in  the  south-eastern  part  of  the  state,  it  was  high 
time.  He  says  that  in  most  parts  of  Massachusetts  the  Old 
Colony  plough  and  the  Sutton  plough  were  still  in  use. 
The  former  he  describes  as  having  a  ten-foot  beam  and  a. 
four-foot  land  side,  and  of  the  latter  he  says  :  ''They  are 
not  fit  to  plough  any  land  that  has  sod  on  it ;  your  farmers'" 
furrows  stand  up  like  the  ribs  of  a  lean  horse  in  tlie  month 
of  March."     And  he  adds, "  The  great  objection  to  all  these 


54  THE  MASSACHUSETTS   SOCIETY 

ploughs  is  that  they  do  not  perform  their  work  well,  and 
that  the  expense  for  blacksmith's  work  in  repairs  is  enor- 
mous; six  ploughs  cost  me  last  year  an  average  of  $6  each 
for  repairs." 

To  return  to  the  record  of  the  society :  In  1819  the  fol- 
lowing letter  was  addressed  to  its  corresponding  secretary, 
and,  with  its  enclosure,  was  published  in  the  next  issue  of 
the  Journal : 

Boston,  September  1,  1819. 

I  received,  early  in  the  spring  of  this  year,  from  Isaac 
Bronson,  Esq.,  of  New  York,  a  plough  denominated  by  him, 
^'Freeborn's  patent  plough."  Having  found,  upon  trial, 
that  it  fulfilled  all  the  expectations  Mr.  Bronson  had  pre- 
viously raised  concerning  it,  I  requested  him  to  write  an 
account  of  its  character  and  success.  His  letter  is  enclosed, 
which  you  are  at  liberty  to  publish  sliould  it  be  deemed 
useful. 

Concerning  its  superiority  I  have  had  the  opinion  of 
-every  practical  farmer  who  has  witnessed  its  operation,  I 
believe,  without  an  exception.  The  effect  upon  my  farm  is 
this  :  that  I  now  break  up,  with  ease,  the  same  quantity 
and  qualities  of  land,  say  one  acre,  in  a  day,  with  one  yoke 
of  oxen  and  one  man,  who  both  holds  and  drives,  which  was 
never  before,  to  my  knowledge,  broken  up  with  less  than 
two  yoke  of  oxen  and  two  men.  My  ploughmen  agree  that 
it  takes  one-third  less  power  to  do  the  same  work,  than 
common  ploughs  require.  One  of  them,  to  express  his  ap- 
probation of  it,  said,  "  that  poor  as  he  was,  if  another  such 
plough  could  not  be  bought  he  would  give  ilOO,  rather 
than  not  have  it,  had  he  a  farm  of  his  own."  It  is  the  best 
plough,  beyond  all  question,  I  have  ever  had  upon  my  farm. 
Respectfully,  I  am  your  obedient  servant, 

JOSIAH  QUINCY. 

In  the  list,  from  which  names  of  New  York  inventors 
above  mentioned  are  taken,  that  of  Freeborn  does  not 
appear.  Some  of  these  inventors  sold  to  other  persons 
rights  to  manufacture,  and  Freeborn  may  have  been  a 
purchaser  and  not  an  inventor.  But  that  his  plough  was 
constructed  on  "  Jeffersonian  principles,"  appears  clearly 
enough  in  an  expression  used  in  the  letter  enclosed, 
viz.:    "The    plough    passes    through    the    ground    with 


FOB  PROMOTING  AGRICULTURE.  55 

very  little  friction  and  with  much  less  draught  than 
other  ploughs  of  the  same  size,  owing,  probably,  to  the 
spiral  wind  in  the  plane  of  the  mould-board."  The  phrase 
"  spiral  wind,"  though  not  used  by  Mr.  Jefferson  or  Col. 
Pickering,  would  not  have  been  rejected  by  either. 

It  cannot  be  doubted  that  Mr.  Quincy's  unstinted  praise 
of  the  new  plough  took  effect,  and  that  the  agricultural 
readers  of  the  Journal,  and  many  of  their  farmer  neigh- 
bors, soon  equipped  themselves  with  that  sort  of  an  imple- 
ment, by  using  two  of  which,  the  same  number  of  men  and 
oxen  could  plough  two  acres  instead  of  one,  or  one  acre  in 
half  the  time. 

That  the  stage  now  reached  in  the  improvement  of  the 
plough  marked  an  extraordinary  advance  in  the  agricultu- 
ral art  is  indicated  by  the  concurrent  approval,  in  foreign 
lands,  of  the  new  method  of  construction,  by  the  two  great 
institutions  named,  and  the  adoption  of  the  method  there, 
and  by  the  sudden  expansion,  in  this  country,  of  the  plough 
manufacture.  The  fact  that  ploughs  of  Jefferson's  model 
are  not  now  used  does  not  affect  the  proposition  that  a 
great  stride  had  been  made.  What  was  then  solely  sought 
for,  both  in  America  and  Europe,  the  plough  that  with  the 
minimum  of  power  would  best  invert  the  sod,  had  been 
obtained.  A  plough  that  with  less  economy  of  power 
should  serve  also  to  break  or  disintegrate  the  sod  had  not 
then  been  asked  for.  Herein,  in  part  at  least,  lies  the  ex- 
planation of  the  circumstance  that  after  the  year  1818, 
during  a  period  of  twenty -two  years,  the  Massachusetts 
society  offered  no  premium  "  for  the  best  plough." 

The  cattle  show  of  the  Massachusetts  society  at  Brigh- 
ton, in  1816,  though  the  first  held  in  this  section  of  the 
State,  had  been  anticipated  in  date  by  the  Berkshire 
County  Agricultural  Society,  whose  first  exhibition  took 
place  in  1811,  at  Pittsfield,  and  was  thereafter  an  annual 
event.  This  priority  appears  to  have  been  a  matter  of  con- 
siderable pride  on  the  part  of  members  of  that  society,  who 


56  THE  MASSACHUSETTS   SOCIETY 

somehow  interpreted  the  congratulatory  reports  of  the 
Massachusetts  society,  respecting  the  series  of  shows  begun 
at  Brighton,  as  having  a  tendency,  if  not  a  purpose,  to- 
diminish  their  own  just  renown.  The  Berkshire  movement 
owed  its  origin  wholly,  and  its  success  largely,  to  the 
ardor  and  energy  of  Elkanah  Watson  of  Pittsfield.  He 
had  travelled  considerably  in  England  and  France,  and 
had  observed  the  popular  appreciation  of  cattle  shows 
and  fairs  there,  and  he  possessed  the  somewhat  rare 
faculty  of  being  able  to  infuse  into  those  associated  with 
him  a  large  measure  of  his  own  enthusiasm.  There  is 
some  reason  for  supposing  that  at  that  period  there  was  a 
stronger  community  feeling  in  Berkshire  than  in  any  other 
considerable  section  of  the  State.  At  any  rate,  the  cattle 
show  prospered  there  from  the  start,  and  its  success  made 
an  impression  on  the  public  mind  wherever  the  fact  be- 
came generally  known. 

In  1823  John  Lowell  who  had  been  the  corresponding 
secretary  of  the  Massachusetts  society  from  1806,  became 
its  president.  In  the  first  issue  of  the  Journal  after  his 
election  he  gave  a  somewhat  extended  review  of  the  socie- 
ty's transactions,  with  a  purpose  to  vindicate  it  against 
various  unjust  aspersions.  He  thus  adverted  to  the  Berk- 
shire  society  : 

But  it  has  been  intimated  that  this  central  society  had 
arrogated  to  itself  merits,  to  which  it  was  not  entitled ; 
that  it  had  been  tardy  to  do  justice  to  the  great  and  meri- 
torious exertions  of  the  Berkshire  society.  This  is  unkind  ;. 
we  have  always  been  prompt  to  acknowledge  the  early,  ef- 
ficient and  intelligent  efforts  of  that  society.  We  have  ad- 
mitted that  they  were  the  first  to  give  a  spring  to  agricultu- 
ral efforts  by  introducing  the  British  and  French  system  of 
public  shows  of  cattle  and  manufactures.  Still,  too  much 
must  not  be  claimed  on  this  score.  It  was  not  an  original 
thought.  Many  of  us  had  visited  the  European  shows, 
and  the  subject  of  introducing  them  had  been  discussed^ 
and  there  can  be  no  doubt,  that  long  ere  this,  they  would 
have  been  in  full  operation  from  the  successful  effect  of 
European  example.     This  is  not  said  with  a  wish  to  dimin- 


FOR  PROMOTING  AGRICULTURE.  57 

ish  the  merit  of  Mr.  Watson,  Mr.  Gold,  Mr.  Melville,  and 
Mr.  Mackay,  and  the  other  "  gentlemen  farmers  "  of  Berk- 
shire. We  know  and  acknowledge  that  they  have  done 
everything  in  their  power  to  promote  an  enlightened  and 
improved  course  of  agriculture,  and  surely  they  may  be 
contented  with  this  merit,  without  wishing  to  deprive  other 
societies  of  their  humble  share  in  this  common  cause. 

The  character  of  the   witness  sufficiently  supports   the 
statement ;  but  one  who  should   critically   read   the  early 
records  of  the  society,   though    pursuing  his   task   in   an 
"  unkind "    spirit,   would   be    persuaded,     that,    whatever 
motives  had  sway  with  the  board  of  trustees,   neither  pre- 
tence of  self-importance  nor  pride  of  section  was   among 
them.     They  gave  place,  at  once,  to  anybody   who  would 
lead  the  way,  whatsoever  the  distance  or  the  point  of  the 
compass  from  which  he  approached.     No  clergyman  could 
be  so  obscure  in  fame,  or  pursue  his  calling  so  remote  from 
towns,  but  that  his  discourse,  if  befitting  to  the  hour,  found 
place  at  the  earliest  opportunity  in  the  society's  periodical, 
and   himself    prompt   award   of  its    first   premium.     Did 
scientific  merit  manifest  itself  in  distant  "  Down  East  ?  '^ 
It  was  welcomed  and  rewarded,  and  given  opportunity  and 
scope  in  the  gardens  of  Harvard  College.     Was  it  ascer- 
tained that  a  New  Hampshire  man  had  made  a  more  excel- 
lent churn ;  that  a  Vermont  man  had  superior  knowledge 
about  raising  barley  and  brewing  farm-house  beer ;  that  a 
Connecticut  man  had  shown  special  enterprise  in  importing 
better  sheep ;  that  a  New  Yorker  had  produced  the  ideal 
plough  ?     Though  not  specifically  chartered   to  that  end, 
the  society  sent  its  medal  or  other   encomium   across   the 
State  border  in  each  instance,  precisely  as  if  the  inventor 
or  discoverer  had  lived  within  sight   of  the    State   House 
dome.     No  dubious  thought  about  local  prestige  was  enter- 
tained.    It  was  enough  that   somebody  had  appeared  who 
could  lift  the  torch,  for  the  enlightenment  of  the  agricultu- 
ralists of  Massachusetts,  a  hand-breadth  higher.     All  this 
being  so,  it  is  not   supposable  that   the   society   had   any 
peculiar  jealousy  about  the  doings  at  Berkshire. 


58  THE   MASSACHUSETTS   SOCIETY 

If  the  western  end  of  the  State  was  willing  to  lead  off  in 
trying  an  experiment,  no  doubt  the  east  and  the  centre 
took  pleasure  in  the  fact,  with  a  purpose  to  copy,  should  the 
experiment  prove  successful.  That  it  was  an  experiment 
sufficiently  appears  in  the  accounts  given  by  Mr.  Watson 
himself  of  it,  and  of  his  tremulous  apprehension  lest  cer- 
tain phases  of  the  enterprise  should  fail  of  popular  approv- 
al and  support.  Although  such  shows  in  England,  guided 
and  patronized  by  dukes  and  earls,  and  perhaps  princes  of 
the  royal  blood,  had  been  successful,  it  did  not  necessarily 
follow  that  the  results  would  be  the  same  in  dealing  with 
the  plain  farmers  of  Massachusetts.  One  bent  on  finding 
something  hidden  or  disguised  in  the  motives  to  action  or 
non-action  on  the  part  of  the  trustees  of  the  Massachusetts 
society  might  better,  perhaps,  search  in  another  direction. 
In  its  early  history  the  society  had  prejudices  enough  to 
overcome,  and  epithets  enough  to  endure  without  exposing 
itself,  needlessly,  to  the  embarassment  of  the  one  or  the 
other.  The  proposal  to  give  a  cattle  show  was  first  made 
to  its  trustees,  and  discussed  by  them,  in  1801.  Amidst  the 
hot  politics  that  raged,  during  the  following  decade,  it  may 
have  been  apprehended  that  any  step,  of  the  kind  proposed, 
would  be  declaimed  about  as  an  attempt  to  introduce  "a 
monarchical  institution.''  But  after  the  republican  farmers 
of  Berkshire  had  set  the  example,  that  fear,  if  it  had  ex- 
isted, ceased. 

The  suggestion  made  in  1801  was  that  the  show  should 
be  given  in  Cambridge  ;  but  when,  in  1815,  a  decision  was 
iirrived  at,  Brighton  was  chosen,  as  being  already  of  fame 
as  a  rendezvous  for  farmers  at  its  cattle  market,  a  fame 
which  dates  as  far  back  as  1775,  when  it  was  made  the 
headquarters,  or  place  of  assembling,  of  cattle  and  other 
stores  of  the  commissary  department  of  Washington's 
army,  then  besieging  the  town  of  Boston.  The  patriotic 
associations  of  the  place,  though  doubtless  appreciated,  had 
no  influence  upon  the  decision  of  the  trustees,  but  rather, 
the  fact  that  the  premium  cattle  of  the  show  would   find 


FOR   PROMOTING  AGRICULTURE.  59 

ready  sale,  if  offered,  at  the  contiguous  market,  and  that 
the  hotel  accommodations  were  ample. 

The  exhibition  of  1816  comprised  only  neat  cattle,  sheep 
and  swine,  first  and  second  premiums  being  offered  in  each 
classification,  the  total  of  premiums  being  $290.  The  cattle 
pens  were  ranged  along  the  south  side  of  the  main  road, 
now  called  Washington  street,  opposite  to  the  Cattle  Fair 
hotel  site  of  modern  times,  and  within  the  enclosure  then 
called  Winship's  pasture.  Nearly  one  hundred  animals 
-were  in  the  collection,  of  a  quality,  as  a  whole,  very  satis- 
factory to  the  trustees,  who  expressed  opinion,  in  their  re- 
port, that  the  show  would  have  been  regarded  creditable  at 
Smithfield,  Lewes  or  Bath  in  England.  The  exhibit  of 
Merino  sheep  was  of  especial  merit ;  but  the  marked  tri- 
umph of  the  day  was  a  milch  cow,  belonging  to  Caleb 
Cakes  of  Danvers,  and  for  which  the  first  premium  was 
awarded.  This  animal  had  yielded,  in  twenty  weeks,  milk 
for  making  320  pounds  of  butter,  and  when  milked  upon 
the  field,  at  Brighton,  the  yield  was  nine  quarts.  Opinion 
was  generally  expressed  that  the  cow  was  unrivalled  in 
America  or  Europe.  The  society  had  a  portrait  of  the 
animal  painted  by  a  celebrated  artist.* 

The  day  was  pleasant  and  the  throng  of  spectators  very 
large.  Among  the  guests  were  the  Governor  of  the  State, 
Gen.  Humphreys,  president  of  the  Connecticut  Agricultural 
Society,  Commodore  Bainbridge  of  the  United  States  navy, 
and  Admiral  Coffin  of  the  British  navy.  It  had  been  in- 
tended that  the  public  exercises  should  take  place  in  the 
Town  Hall,  but  this  proved  too  small  for  the  eager  audience, 
and  an  adjournment  to  the  Brighton  meeting  house  was 
made.  This  building  is  still  standing  at  the  corner  of 
Washington  and  Market  streets.  In  these  exercises  were 
comprised  an  address  by  President  Dexter,  of  the  society, 
and  the  reading  of  a  report  by  Secretary  Lowell.  During 
the  day  the  society  and  guests  dined  at   Hastings'  tavern, 

*Tlie  whereabouts  of  the  portrait  is  at  present  unknown  to  the  present 
trustees,  who  ask  for  information  that  will  enable  them  to  find  it. 

/^<^^   OF  TH1?     ^J^ 


60  THE   MASSACHUSETTS    SOCIETY 

which  was  on  the  site  of  the  modern  Cattle  Fair  hotel.  The 
custom  at  the  cattle-show  dinners  of  early  date,  was  to  pro- 
vide a  set  of  regular  toasts  or  sentiments,  and  persons 
called  upon  responded,  each  with  his  own  sentiment,  and 
not  with  a  speech.  Among  the  volunteer  or  responsive 
toasts  on  this  first  occasion  were  the  following: 

The  ox — the  richest  domestic  gift  of  nature  to  the  citizen 
and  the  farmer. 

The  fine-wooled  and  coarse-wooled  sheep — Heaven's  next 
best  gift ;  may  we  remember  their  merits,  when  the  glass 
is  below  the  cipher,  and  not  lay  on  their  backs  the  folly  of 
our  own  speculations. 

The  best  blessings  to  any  people,  a  learned  and  pious 
clergy  ;  may  they  practice  what  they  preach  and  learn  to 
differ  as  though  they  differed  not. 

A  speedy  end  to  the  farmer's  three  banes,  mortgages, 
dram-shops  and  a  violent  thirst  for  politics  of  any  sort. 

The  editor  of  a  Boston  newspaper  of  the  day  said  of  the 
event !  "It  was  pleasant  to  witness  on  this  occasion  the 
total  absence  of  party  feelings  and  political  prejudices.  The 
lion  and  the  lamb  lay  down  together.  Public  utility  was 
the  order,  and  rural  felicity,  the  sentiment,  of  the  day." 
The  report  read  by  Mr.  Lowell  gives  some  hint  of  the  an- 
tecedent considerations  governing  the  action  of  the  trustees. 
It  says  : 

Those  opposed  to  the  plan  of  a  cattle  show  may  ask  why 
the  society  should  waste  its  funds  in  a  scheme,  the  ten- 
dency of  which  may  seem  to  them  to  be  only  to  multiply 
the  days  of  festivity  and  idleness,  already  too  frequent, 
and  to  endanger  the  morals  of  the  citizens  by  collecting 
them  together  in  a  situation,  and  under  temptations,  unfa- 
vorable to  correctness  and  sobriety.  We  are  not  unaware 
that  such  collections  of  people  may  be  subject  to  some  evil. 
But  when  we  recollect  upon  how  many  less  interesting 
occasions,  and  among  those  some  of  questionable  utility, 
the  people  are  called  together,  in  which  the  principal  effect 
upon  some  would  seem*to  be  to  sharpen  still  more  the  as- 
perity of  party  feelings,  and  to  widen  still  further  the 
breaches  in  our  community,  it  would  appear  to  be  a  sufficient 
apology  to  say, — let  us  unite  in  one  object  in  which  division 
and  irritable  feelings  can  find  no  room  for  exercise,  in  an 


FOR   PROMOTING   AGRICULTURE.  61 

assembly  the  sole  end  of  which  is  the  promotion  of  the 
good  of  the  whole  community,  and  the  advancement  and 
prosperity  of  the  whole  state. 

The  report  further  says  that  cattle  shows  had  their  be- 
ginning in  Great  Britain  ;  that  this  example  soon  reached 
the  Continent,  where  its  success,  if  not  equally  great,  had 
at  least  been  considerable ;  that  one  inducement  which  led 
the  trustees  to  take  action,  had  been  the  accumulation  of 
society  funds,  through  failure  of  due  response  to  premiums 
hitherto  offered,  tlie  payments  of  premiums  having  mostly 
been  for  importations  of  improved  breeds  of  sheep ;  that 
in  now  turning  its  attention  to  the  improvement  of  breeds 
of  domestic  animals  the  society  was  following  the  example 
of  Europe  and  of  the  Berkshire  County  Society  of  this  state; 
that  the  premiums  now  offered  amounted,  in  most  cases,  to 
more  than  one-half  the  value  of  the  animal,  and  in  some 
cases  to  the  full  value,  added  to  which  inducement,  was  the 
certainty  of  a  better  sale  for  cattle,  for  which  premiums  had 
been  awarded  ;  and  that  the  reason  why  premiums  for 
horses  had  not  been  offered  was  that  the  use  of  horses  for 
agricultural  work  was  small  in  this  country,  as  compared 
with  foreign  lands,  and  the  prices  were  already  high  enough 
to  encourage  their  breeding  and  improvement,  "  higher 
tlian  in  any  quarter  of  the  globe  with  which  we  are  ac- 
quainted, where  this  animal  is  raised." 

The  cattle  show  of  1817  excelled  its  predecessor  in  many 
respects.  The  amount  of  premiums  offered  was  $1300,  of 
which  $500  was  granted  by  the  Legislature.  Three  pre- 
miums instead  of  two  were  offered  in  the  classes  of  native 
cows,  fat  oxen  and  working  oxen.  For  sheep  there  were 
eight  premiums ;  for  native  bulls,  two  ;  for  imported  bulls, 
two  ;  for  imported  cows,  two  ;  also  a  premium  for  the  most 
wheat  raised  per  acre  ;  the  most  turnips  per  acre  ;  for  any 
superior  vegetable  or  grass ;  for  the  best  threshing  machine, 
the  best  seed-sowing  machine,  the  best  plough,  the 
most  successful  use  of  the  drill  plough,  and  for  any  other 
agricultural  invention  deserving  a  reward.  Other  premiums 
were  for  manufactures  from  wool  of  native  sheep  and 
from  cotton,  the  classification  being  of  factory-made 
and  home-made.  A  ploughing  match  was  provided  for, 
the  first  that  had  occurred  in  eastern  Massachusetts,  the 


62  THE   MASSACHUSETTS    SOCIETY 

total  premiums  therein  being  $56.  The  show  continued 
two  days,  October  14  and  15,  the  ploughing  match  taking 
place  on  the  second  day. 

An  assemblage  of  more  than  4000  persons  was  attracted 
to  Brighton  on  the  first  day  to  behold  these  promised  won- 
ders ;  for  they  were  such,  then.  Many  came  from  New 
Hampshire ;  and  other  places,  less  distant,  had  representa- 
tives and  observers  on  the  ground,  all  of  whom  on  return- 
ing home  had  something  to  say  of  a  eulogistic  character^ 
which  was  helpful  to  the  society  in  the  direction  of  "  pro- 
moting agriculture.''  Any  number  of  agricultural  tracts 
distributed  over  the  same  area  would  doubtless  have  done 
far  less  ;  not  but  that  such  tracts  were  useful,  but  the  multi- 
tude of  that  period  would  not  ponder  and  read  them.  On 
the  first  day  more  than  600  carriages  were  standing  about 
the  streets  of  Brighton  village.  Hucksters'  booths  and 
tents,  which  had  sprung  up  like  Jonah's  gourd,  occupied 
the  various  points  of  vantage,  and  all  things  took  on  a  holi- 
day aspect.  The  animals  exhibited  occupied  sixty  pens, 
which  were  stretched  along  the  present  Washington  street, 
within  the  Winship  pasture,  from  the  present  Chestnut  Hill 
avenue  nearly  to  Foster  street.  The  Town  Hall,  which  then 
stood  on  the  south  side  of  Washington  street,  350  feet  east 
of  Chestnut  Hill  avenue,  was  used  to  exhibit  manufactures,, 
agricultural  machines  and  tools,  and  vegetables.  The  pub- 
lic exercises  took  place  in  the  meeting  house  and  the  other 
proceedings  were  similar  to  those  of  the  preceding  year. 
A  Boston  newspaper  editor  of  the  period  pronounced  the 
exhibition  to  have  been  "  splendid  and  gratifying." 

This  display  of  animals,  which,  by  the  official  and  other 
reports,  was  of  great  merit,  was  notable  in  two  particulars, 
especially,  the  pair  of  mammoth  fat  oxen  from  Springfield, 
and  the  Westbrook  heifer.  They  took  the  highest  pre- 
miums, and,  by  vote  of  the  trustees,  paintings  of  the  three 
animals  were  procured  for  the  society.  Measurements  of 
the  oxen  were  taken  for  comparison  with  those  of  the  most 
celebrated  EngUsh  ox  of  that  day,  known  as  the  Durham 


FOR  PROMOTING  AGRICULTURE.  6& 

OX.  A  part  of  the  figures  given  of  the  larger  American 
and  the  English  ox  are  the  follctwing  :  American,  height  at 
the  shoulders,  5  ft.  6^  in. ;  length  from  nose  to  end  of 
rump,  11  ft.  3i  in.  ;  greatest  girt,  10  ft.  1  in. ;  English, 
height,  5  ft.  6  in.;  length,  11  ft.;  girt,  11  ft.  1  in.  The 
comparative  weights  are  not  given.  The  larger  American 
ox  weighed  2,784  pounds,  and  the  smaller,  2,320  pounds. 
The  age  of  the  pair  was  6i  years.  The  Westbrook  heifer 
was  notable  as  being  the  first  adequate  public  demonstra- 
tion, under  the  auspices  of  the  society,  of  the  great  gains- 
possible  through  judicious  breeding.  The  heifer  was  partly 
of  native,  but  chiefly  of  English  pedigree,  the  English 
breed  being  that  of  the  celebrated  cattle  breeder,  Robert 
Bakewell.  At  the  date  of  exhibition  the  animal  was  21 
months  old  and  weighed  over  1700  pounds.  At  six  months 
old  its  weight  was  600  pounds.  In  form  it  was  regarded 
superior  to  anything  that  had  been  seen  of  the  same  class 
in  this  region,  and  besides  the  painting,  the  trustees  had  an 
engraving  made  and  published  in  the  Journal  for  January, 
1818. 

Another  notable  affair,  though  not  eligible  for  a  pre- 
mium, was  a  pair  of  women's  shoes  exhibited  by  William 
Furnald  of  Charlestown,  as  evidence  of  the  rapidity  possi- 
ble in  the  work  of  manufacture.  On  the  first  day  of  the 
cattle  show  between  the  midnight  hour  and  one  o^clock  A. 
M.,  a  goat  was  slaughtered  at  Mr.  Furnald's  factory.  The 
skin  was  removed,  and  before  eleven  A.  M.  had  been  prop- 
erly Hmed,  cleansed  and  tanned.  Before  one  P.  M.  it  had 
been  wrought  into  black  morocco  leather,  and  by  2.30  P. 
M.  the  pair  of  shoes  was  finished  and  Mr.  Furnald  started 
with  them  for  the  Brighton  show  grounds. 

With  reference  to  the  exhibits  of  superior  animals,  the 
official  report  makes  the  following  remarks  which  are  his- 
torically instructive,  in  showing  the  facts  of  that  day  as  to 
breeding  : 

It  is  to  be  desired  that  our  citizens  and  the  world 
should  know  that  there  exists  no  description   of  domestic 


64  THE  MASSACHUSETTS  SOCIETY 

animal  of  which  Massachusetts  cannot  produce  a  specimen 
equal,  if  not  superior,  to  any  in  the  most  cultivated  regions 
of  Europe ;  but  the  general  state  of  the  breeds  of  our  ani- 
mals is  far  inferior  to  those  of  some  countries.  Our  whole 
State  cannot  produce  as  many  fine  cattle  as  are  exhibited 
in  one  week,  at  Smithfield  market,  on  ordinary  days.  Yet, 
in  instances,  we  have  the  best.  The  milch  cow  of  Mr. 
Oakes,  which  took  the  premium  last  year  is  probably,  in 
point  of  productiveness,  superior  to  any  animal  in  the 
world.  The  oxen  offered  this  year  from  Springfield,  and 
the  heifer  from  Westbrook,  it  is  believed,  are  superior  to 
any  animals  of  the  like  description  existing  anywhere. 

With  reference  to  the  ploughing  match  the  same  report 
:Says : 

We  have  before  us  accounts  of  five  celebrated  ploughing 
matches  in  England,  the  showing  of  which  is  that  the  labor 
was  performed  by  every  one,  even  the  slowest,  of  our 
ploughs  in  nearly  one  half  the  time  taken  to  perform  the 
same  work  in  England.  There  was  another  circumstance 
in  the  ploughing  match  which  gave  us  pleasure,  as  evincing 
a  strong  desire  for  improvement.  There  were  no  two 
ploughs  out  of  the  twelve  alike.  They  were  all  of  them 
uncommon,  and  had  some  peculiarity  of  modern  invention. 

This  dissimilarity,  and  individualism  in  improvement,  was 
not  destined  to  continue  long,  for  the  reason,  that  will 
occur  to  the  reader,  that  in  the  spring  of  the  year  1819, 
Mr»  Quincy  was  to  drive  his  team  afield  with  a  New  York 
plough  attached,  and,  in  the  autumn,  to  announce,  whether, 
consciously  or  not,  the  beginning  of  a  new  era  in  plough- 
ing. 

The  year  1818  was  entered  upon  by  the  trustees  with 
hope  and  confidence.  They  could  but  mentally  assent  to 
the  newspaper's  panegyric  upon  their  recent  fair,  as  splen- 
did and  gratifying  ;  and  this  gratification  arose  in  part 
only  from  the  thought  that  their  endeavors  had  been  sus- 
tained by  the  farmer  contributors,  and  had  proved  popular- 
ly acceptable.  Its  other  source  was  in  the  perception  that 
they  now  had  a  new  instrumentality,  through  which  to  reach, 
and  incite  to  better  things,  the  conservative  and  somewhat 
incredulous  tillers  of  the  soil.     For  them,  henceforth,  to 


FOR   PROMOTING   AGRICULTURE.  65 

see  and  to  believe  might  be  happily  joined.  Early  in  the 
season  a  committee  of  the  board  opened  negotiations  with 
the  selectmen  of  Brighton,  looking  to  the  permanent  estab- 
lishment of  the  cattle  show  in  that  town.  They  suggested 
to  the  selectmen  that  in  whatever  town  they  should  locate, 
they  should  expect  from  it  the  gift  of  half  an  acre  of  land, 
on  which  to  set  an  agricultural  hall,  and  the  use  of  four 
acres,  near  at  hand,  during  six  days  in  October,  each  year, 
for  the  placing  of  cattle  pens  and  the  convenience  of  spec- 
tators, having  already  had  a  proposition  to  that  effect  made 
to  them  in  a  neighboring  town.  A  town  meeting  was  held 
in  Brighton,  on  June  8,  and  a  committee  was  appointed. 
The  committee  was  able  to  report  at  the  adjourned  meeting 
of  June  15,  that  two  offers  had  been  made  of  gift  to  the 
town,  as  desired. 

One  of  these  was  from  Samuel  W.  Pomeroy,  who  pro- 
posed to  grant  the  half  acre  on  either  side  of  the  road  near 
his  tavern,  and  the  use  of  a  field  of  ten  acres  opposite  to 
the  tavern.  This  building  was  known  as  the  Bull's  Head 
tavern  and  stood  on  the  northeasterly  side  of  the  present 
Washington  street,  1,000  feet  from  Cambridge  street,  and 
400  feet  from  Union  street.  The  ten-acre  lot  was  within 
the  area  now  bounded  by  Union  street  and  Lexington 
avenue.  The  other  offer  was  from  Abiel  Winship,  of  a 
half  acre  in  the  middle  of  his  pasture,  already  referred  to, 
and  a  roadway  to  it,  with  the  use  of  four  acres  in  such  part 
of  the  field  as  he  might  choose,  from  time  to  time.  The 
thanks  of  the  town  were  voted  to  each  of  the  two  citizens, 
and  the  committee  was  directed  to  submit  the  two  offers  to 
the  trustees  of  the  society.  They  chose  the  Winship 
premises,  as  being  more  central  in  the  village,  and  the  half- 
acre  lot  being,  as  the  committee  of  the  trustees  express  it 
in  their  report,  ''  on  elevated  and  beautiful  ground,  com- 
manding an  extensive  view."  The  deed  of  Abiel  Winship 
to  the  society  is  of  date,  July  23,  1818,  and  has  condi- 
tions that  in  case  the  premises  cease  to  be  used  for  a  cattle 
show  the  land  shall  revert  to  the  grantor ;  also,  that  the 


•66  THE   MASSACHUSETTS   SOCIETY 

erection  of  booths,  tents  or  buildings  upon  either  the  half- 
acre  or  the  four-acre  premises,  for  the  vending  of  liquors, 
refreshments  or  articles  of  an3^  description,  shall  be  subject 
to  the  approval  of  the  grantor.  There  is  a  stipulation  that 
the  agricultural  hall  shall  belong  to  the  society  in  any 
event. 

The  boundaries  of  the  half-acre  lot  have  been  obliter- 
ated by  the  conveyances  of  later  times  ;  but  a  distinct 
landmark  appears  in  the  public  highway,  now  called 
Dighton  place,  but,  prior  to  annexation,  Winship 
place.  This  roadway,  though  originally  four  rods  wide, 
was  the  avenue  of  approach  from  Washington  street  to 
the  half-acre  lot.  The  building  erected  by  the  society 
was  known  as  Agricultural  Hall,  and  it  stood  in  the  centre 
of  the  half-acre  lot.  Its  site  is  within  the  open  area  that 
makes  the  upper  end  of  Dighton  place,  in  front,  or  north 
of  the  Bennett  primary  school  house  there.  The  position 
of  the  south  end  of  Agricultural  Hall  corresponds  very 
nearly  with  that  of  the  north  end  of  the  school  house. 
The  hall  stood  upon  or  near  the  height  of  land,  and  the 
whole  extensive  tract  about  it  thereafter  took  on  the  name 
of  Agricultural  Hill.  Many  years  afterwards  the  society 
obtained  a  deed,  from  the  administrator  of  the  Winship 
estate,  of  three  and  a  half  acres,  adjoining  the  half  acre 
tract,  so  phrased  that  it  could  convey  a  good  title  to  the 
whole,  without  conditions.  It  sold  the  land  to  Stephen 
H.  Bennett,  who  made  a  donation  of  the  school  house  lot 
to  the  town  of  Brighton. 

Agricultural  Hall  was  a  structure  of  70  by  36  feet, 
ground  dimensions,  and  two  stories  high.  The  lower 
story  finished  at  twelve  feet  height,  and  the  upper  at  ten 
feet  and  seven  inches.  In  the  upper  hall  were  hung  vari- 
ous paintings  and  engraved  pictures,  illustrative  of  agri- 
cultural matters.  The  building  was  constructed  during 
the  summer  of  1818  and  occupied  by  the  society  for  the 
show  of  that  year.  No  ceremonies  of  breaking  ground 
or  dedication  took  place,  but,  in  conformity  to  the  usage 


FOR  PROMOTING   AGRICULTURE.  6T 

of  that  period,  all  stalwart  and  willing  citizens  were  in- 
vited to  be  present  on  August  25,  when,  as  appears  by  the 
society's  cash  book,  the  sum  of  110  was  paid  "  for  liquors 
for  the  raising."     Within  this  building,  annually,  to  1835 
(including  that  year,  but  excepting  1831  and  1834),  were 
displayed  those  various  farm,  household  and  factory  pro- 
ducts, which  contribute  to  make  up  the  typical  agricultu- 
ral exhibition.     In  front  of  it    each   year,  on   the   chief 
festival  day,  the  members  of  the  society  and  guests  were 
formed  by  the  society's  four  marshals,  in  procession,  and 
moved  down  the  broad  avenue  to  the  main  street  and  to 
the  meeting  house,  keeping  step  to    the  martial   notes  of 
drums,  fifes,  clarinets  and  cymbals.     In  the  meeting  house 
the  annual  address  and  other  public  exercises  took  place. 
For  some  years  after  the  first  occupancy   of  the  hall  the 
cattle  pens  were  aligned  as  in  1816   and  1817  along   the 
•roadside,  but  latterly  the  southerly  slope  beyond  the  crown 
of  the  hill,  and  south  of  the  hall,   was  set  apart  for  the 
purpose.     There  the  sight-seeing  throngs  stood  and  gazed 
in  pleasant  October  days  upon  the   assembled  herds  and 
flocks,  or,  becoming  weary  of  that,  and  of  the  curiosities 
arrayed  in  Agricultural  Hall,  strolled  about  the  "  beautiful 
and  elevated  grounds,"  and  viewed  the  "  extensive  pros- 
pect."    Agricultural  Hall  was  removed,  after  the  sale  of 
the  society's  land  in  1844,  to  the  easterlj^  corner  of  Chest- 
nut Hill  avenue  and    Washington  street,  where  it  still 
stands,  substantially  unchanged,  and  is  used  as  a  store. 

The  exhibition  of  1818  comprised  a  much  larger  number 
of  animals  than  either  of  its  predecessors,  and  was  superior 
also  in  respect  to  their  average  quality.  The  attendance 
of  spectators  was  equal  or  greater.  At  the  society's  din- 
ner 200  persons  sat  at  the  table.  The  lower  story  of  the 
agricultural  building  was  used  for  exhibiting  farming 
machinery  and  implements  and  mammoth  vegetables ;  the 
upper  story  for  manufactured  textiles  and  other  light 
goods.  The  successive  exhibitions,  for  many  years,  pre- 
sented no  important  new  features,  but  the  festival  annu- 


68  THE  MASSACHUSETTS   SOCIETY 

ally  increased  in  popularity,  and  this  notwithstanding  the 
attraction  of  county  society  shows,  which  had  been  organ- 
ized. The  show  of  1821,  for  example,  had  more  than  100 
neat  cattle,  and  more  than  300  animals  in  all,  and  this,  as 
the  official  report  says,  "  notwithstanding  that  three  very 
respectable  county  societies  had  sprung  up  full  grown  in 
our  immediate  vicinity."  The  newspaper  report  of  this 
show  says  that  Agricultural  Hall  ought  to  have  been 
twice  as  large  to  accommodate  all  that  wished  to  see 
excellent  things  therein.  Of  the  series  of  shows  a  few 
peculiarities  are  mentionable.  That  of  1818  had,  for  one 
of  its  exhibitors,  the  indefatigable  Charles  Vaughan,  of 
Hallowell,  one  of  the  charter  members  and  original  trus- 
tees of  the  society.  He  exhibited  a  superior  boar  and 
took  the  first  premium.  In  1819  a  fat  ox  from  Waltham 
was  in  the  show,  weighing  2798  pounds.  At  that  time 
the  newspaper  reporting,  excepting  what  related  to  mar- 
ket prices  and  shipping,  was  usually  done  by  the  editor, 
who  was  not  to  be  drawn  out  of  his  sanctum  unless  some- 
thing specially  important  was  going  on.  The  editor  of 
the  Boston  Sentinel  evidently  speaks  as  an  eye-witness 
of  the  show  of  1819,  and,  after  mentioning  the  great  crowds 
and  whence  they  came,  says,  "  Many  came  by  the  way 
of  the  Mill-dam  corporation's  bridge,  and  had  a  short  but 
pleasant  walk  and  opportunity  to  witness  the  progress 
made  in  an  enterprise  so  vast,  and  which  promises  to  he 
of  much  public  utility."  The  enterprise  alluded  to,  a& 
will  generally  be  apprehended,  was  not  that  of  the  Agri- 
cultural society,  but  of  the  Mill-dam  corporation.  In  1821 
a  fat  ox  from  Hatfield  was  exhibited,  weighing  2573^ 
pounds.  The  official  report  remarks  upon  the  great  im- 
provement manifest  in  specimens  of  swine,  proving  that 
the  advantage  of  careful  bree.ding  was  becoming  generally 
understood.  In  1821  the  total  of  premiums  offered  was 
$2,000.  As  usual,  some  were  not  competed  for,  but  the 
total  payments  for  premiums  were  11,244.  A  new  manu- 
facture was  exhibited  by  the  inventor,  John  Johnson,    of 


FOR   PROMOTING  AGRICULTURE.  69 

Marblehead,  namely,  seines  and  herring  nets  of  cotton 
twine,  which  were  preferred  by  the  fishermen  of  Marble- 
head  to  those  of  hemp,  whether  of  American  or  foreign 
manufacture.  A  premium  of  110  was  awarded.  The 
superiority  of  the  progeny  of  various  animals  of  choice 
foreign  breeds  now  exhibited  was  officially  noted. 

In  1822  persons  were  present  from  all  the  New  England 
states  and  some  of  the  southern  states.  In  1823  a  Sicilian 
squash  three  feet  long,  raised  at  Brookline,  from  foreign 
seed,  was  shown  ;  also  ears  of  corn  14  inches  long,  raised 
in  Roxbury,  from  seed  obtained  in  Missouri;  also  large 
onions  from  Tripoli  seed ;  also  elderberry  wine,  of  which 
the  official  report  remarks  that  "  it  is  reputed  to  be  very 
wholesome,''  seeming  to  signify  that  it  was  a  new  thing, 
or  at  least  not  familiarly  known.  In  1824  a  pair  of  fat 
oxen  from  Shrewsbury,  weighing  5000  pounds,  were  in 
the  exhibition  ;  also  a  mule.  In  1825  a  plough  was  exhib- 
ited with  a  "  self-sharpening  point,"  the  sharpening  being 
effected  by  reversing  the  piece  when  it  became  worn.  The 
official  report  of  it  says,  "  Your  committee  had  no  evidence 
of  the  instrument's  having  been  used  and  approved  by 
practical  farmers,  and  therefore  do  not  deem  it  within 
their  authority  to  grant  a  premium."  In  1826  a  satis- 
factory threshing  machine  was  exhibited,  which,  with 
horse-power,  in  seven  hours,  would  thresh  203  bushels  of 
oats.  In  the  official  report  the  trustees  renew  their  decla- 
ration in  favor  of  cast-iron  ploughs,  and  say  that  although 
they  cost  more  at  first  they  are  cheaper  in  the  end.  In 
1827  one  of  the  committee  on  milch  cows  was  "  Thomas 
Williams  of  Noddle's  Island,"  a  localization  which  sounds 
queer  now,  but  did  not  then.  In  1828  the  official  report 
speaks  with  congratulation  upon  the  fact  that  of  12 
ploughs,  in  the  single-yoke  ploughing  match,  10  were  of 
cast-iron,  and  that  in  the  double  yoke  match  six  of  the 
nine  ploughs  were  cast-iron.  In  another  official  report  of 
this  year  something  of  protest  appears  as  to  a  proposed 
repeal  of  the  law,  by  which  the  society  had  an  annual 


70  THE  MASSACHUSETTS   SOCIETY 

grant  from  the  State  ;  and  it  is  remarked,  as  showing  that 
the  grant  is  not  one  for  local  benefit,  that  "  three-fourths- 
of  the  society's  premiumsjare  dispersed  in  countries  not 
contiguous  to  the  capital."  In  1829,  among  the  animals 
exhibited,  were  three  jacks  or  male  donkeys. 

In  1830  the  effect  of  the  counter-attractions,  which 
the  county  societies  were  able  to  offer,  became  manifest 
in  some  degree ;  for  the  show  of  animals  was  smaller 
than  during  many  preceding  years.  It  was  excellent 
in  quality,  however,  and  the  official  report  remarks  that 
in  the  pens  "  there  was  scarcely  one^  animal  of  pure 
native  breed  of  cattle,  sheep  or  swine."  The  attendance 
of  spectators  was  about  as  usual — that  is  very  large ;  and, 
as  previously,  the  festival  amounted  to  a  general  holiday 
for  Brighton  village.  It  was  notable  also  as  being  the  day 
of  first  occupancy,  by  any  large  company  or  society,  of 
the  famous  Cattle  Fair  Hotel.  An  account  of  the  festival 
says :  "  The  society  dined  in  the  lower  hall  of  that  spa- 
cious and  elegant  building,  the  Cattle  Fair  Hotel. 
Although  the  hall  was  unfinished  it  was  very  beautifully 
decorated  with  flags  and  banners,  surrounded  by  the 
graceful  pine  and  larch,  and  the  posts  entwined  with 
evergreens."  Some  hint  that  modern  times,  in  the  way 
of  agricultural  tools,  were  approaching,  will  appear  to 
many  readers,  in  the  statement,  that  among  the  articles 
shown  in  Agricultural  Hall,  were  ploughs  of  iron,  from 
David  Prouty,  of  Hanover,  and  from  Nourse  &  Co.,  of 
Sherburne.  There  was  no  diminution  of  interest  in  the 
ploughing  match,  either  as  respects  the  competitors  or  the 
spectators.  For  the  match  with  two  yoke  of  oxen, 
eleven  competitors  entered,  a  larger  number  than  on  any 
previous  occasion.  In  fact  more  desired  to  enter,  there 
being  thirteen  teams  present.  Only  eleven  lots  had  been 
measured  off  and  two  teams  had  to  be  set  aside.  In  re- 
gard to  both  the  single  and  double-team  matches,  the 
committee  of  awards  report  that  they  gave  express  instruc- 
tions to  the  ploughmen,  that  the  teams  should  not  be 


FOR   PROMOTING   AGRICULTURE.  71 

hurried,  and  that  shortness  of  time  was  no  object  in  com- 
parison with  good  work.  In  the  earliest  ploughing  match- 
es time  had  been  an  important  element  in  the  decision. 

A  departure  from  this  standard  was  announced  in  the 
programme  for  the  show  of  1825,  and  now,  in  1830,  the 
new  standard  appears  to  have  been  rigidly  insisted  upon. 
This  change  of  standard  is  doubtless  traceable  to  the 
performance  of  a  team  and  ploughman  in  the  ploughing 
match  of  the  year  1819.  The  plough  was  entered  for 
the  competition  by  Josiah  Quincy,  and  no  doubt  the 
ploughman  followed  his  instructions.  On  that  occasion 
the  single-yoke  and  double-yoke  teams  competed  together. 
Mr.  Quincy's  team  was  a  single  yoke.  There  were  six 
teams.  The  three  double-yoke  teams  did  the  work  in  38, 
42  and  43-^  minutes,  respectively.  The  two  single-yoke 
teams  did  it  in  55  and  55i  minutes,  respectively.  Mr. 
Quincy's  team  did  it  in  1  hour  and  49  minutes.  All  the 
lots  were,  of  course,  of  the  same  size.  Doubtless  the  com- 
mittee found  their  pre-conceptions  to  be  rather  shaken 
up  ;  but  after  due  cogitation  and  looking  over  the  ground, 
they  made  up  their  report  to  read  :  "  In  considering  the 
performance  of  Mr.  Quincy's  plough,  your  committee  were 
constrained,  in  some  measure,  by  their  construction  of  the 
terms  on  which  the  premiums  were  offered  (viz.,  *'  the 
best  work  with  the  least  expense  of  labor,")  to  place  time 
against  good  work,  as  the  work  of  this  plough  was  un- 
questionably the  best  in  the  field,  and  the  team  under 
exemplary  discipline."  Accordingly,  Mr.  Quincy,  not- 
withstanding the  lateness  of  his  team  in  arriving  at  the 
end  of  the  last  furrow,  was  awarded  the  third  premium. 
It  may  be  remarked,  with  a  view  to  add  desirable  definite- 
ness  to  this  record,  that  from  the  beginning,  tlie  plough- 
ing matches  took  place  on  some  field  a  short  distance 
away  from  what  may  be  called  the  show  grounds.  Prior 
to  the  building  of  the  Boston  and  Worcester  railroad,  a 
field  near  Market  street,  now  crossed  by  the  railroad,  was 
used)  and  on  some  later  occasions  the  ten  acre  lot  opposite 
to  the  Bull's  Head  tavern. 


72  THE   MASSACHUSETTS   SOCIETY 

In  1831  the  cattle  show  was  omitted.  In  making  the 
announcement,  the  trustees  speak  of  the  satisfactory  results 
which  had  been  attained  through  the  cattle  shows  of  the 
society  during  the  preceding  fourteen  years,  more  especial- 
ly in  respect  to  stimulating  better  practices  among  the  farm- 
ers in  the  breeding  of  neat  cattle,  sheep  and  swine.  To 
this,  they  say,  tlie  shows  of  the  county  societies  have  con- 
tributed greatly,  and  will  continue  to  be  effective  in  that 
way.  This  favorable  state  of  things,  they  say,  will  justify 
the  application  of  the  society's  funds  to  other  important 
objects.  They  therefore  propose  to  continue  the  usual  pre- 
miums for  farm  management,  orchards,  largest  corps  per 
acre,  etc.,  and  to  give  an  exhibition  of  butter  and  cheese  on 
December  7,  in  the  rotunda  of  the  new  Faneuil  Hall  mar- 
ket building,  in  Boston.  This  announcement,  though  rather 
ominous  as  respects  the  permanency  of  the  Brighton  cattle 
show,  did  not  prove  immediately  fatal.  The  people  of 
Brighton  were  much  dissatisfied  by  the  interruption,  and 
the  leading  farmers  in  counties  south  of  Boston,  where  no 
shows  had  been  established,  joined  in  protesting. 

In  1832  the  show  was  resumed  at  Brighton  and  proved 
to  be  an  event  of  considerable  magnitude,  though  not  equal 
to  many  of  its  predecessors.  The  report  of  the  trustees 
in  regard  to  it  remarks  upon  the  increased  interest  mani- 
fested, all  over  the  State,  in  agriculture  and  in  exhibitions 
made  for  its  encouragement.  At  this  exhibition  an  award 
was  made  for  one  novelty,  which,  though  an  humble 
affair  in  the  province  of  agriculture  regarded  as  a  whole, 
was,  and  continues  to  be,  of  much  importance  in  seashore 
farming  towns,  where  salt-marsh  hay  is  extensively  har- 
vested. The  official  report  on  the  matter  was  as  follows  : 
^'  Ira  Draper  of  Saugus,  entered  for  a  premium,  mud  shoes, 
to  be  used  on  horses*  feet  in  wet,  soft  and  marshy  ground, 
by  use  of  which  horses  in  light  wagons,  with  suitable 
wheels  as  to  width,  can  remove  hay  with  much  greater  de- 
spatch than  in  the  usual  mode  with  carts  and  oxen,  and 
not  poach  or  cut  up  the  ground.  They  were  recommended 
as  having  been  used  to  great  advantage,  in  certificates  from 


FOR  PROMOTING  AGRICULTURE.  73 

Mr.  Oliver  of  Saugiis,  and  Joseph  Harris  of  Chelsea.  The 
committee  award  to  Mr.  Draper  for  his  mud  shoes,  $5." 
Ill  the  ploughing  match  of  1832,  a  premium  was  offered  for 
the  best  plough.  This  however  requires  no  modification  of 
a  foregoing  statement,  that  for  twenty-two  years  after  1818, 
no  premium  for  the  best  plough  was  offered.  The  offer 
.now  made  was  obviously  to  induce  competitors  to  use  the 
-most  efficient  instrument  obtainable,  in  order  to  achieve, 
for  the  credit  of  the  society,  and  for  the  instruction  of  the 
by-standers,  the  most  perfect  result  in  the  way  of  a 
-ploughed  field.  It  is  quite  possible  that  there  were  better 
ploughs  in  Agricultural  Hall  in  1832,  than  any  on  the  field, 
?but  they  got  no  premium. 

The  show  of  1833  is  described  as  having  been  of  merit 
;and  attractiveness,  with  fewer  cattle  than  usual  in  the  pens. 
Although  the  day  was  cloudy  and  rainy,  there  was  a  great 
concourse  of  people  on  the  grounds.  The  official  organ  of 
the  society  at  that  time,  the  New  England  Farmer,  com- 
ments thus  upon  the  situation,  and  there  is  no  reason  to 
doubt  that  it  is  a  just  judgment :  "  The  principal  cause  of  a 
diminution  of  cattle  exhibited  at  Brighton,  may  be  found 
in  cattle  shows  of  other  parts  of  the  State.  Another  cause 
may  be  that  fine  animals  have  become  so  common  that  they 
are  scarcely  considered  as  a  rarity.  Excellence  ceases  to 
be  remarkable  when  it  becomes  general."  Another  consid- 
eration is  to  be  kept  in  mind,  for  a  proper  understanding, 
at  the  present  time,  of  the  decline  and  cessation  of  the 
society's  annual  exhibition,  which,  for  many  years  was 
probably  not  exceeded,  if  equalled,  in  its  magnitude  and 
quality,  by  any  like  demonstration  in  this  country.  Even 
as  late  as  1835,  railroads  were  in  their  veriest  infancy. 
The  few  then  existing  in  Massachusetts  had  no  proper 
facilities,  if  their  managers  had  any  disposition,  to  under- 
take the  transportation  of  farm  animals  to  and  fro,  nor  did 
they  provide  frequent  conveyance  for  passengers.  Specta- 
tors in  sufficient  numbers  appear  to  have  been  within  call. 
"TThe  real  difficulty  was  with  the  cattle,  using  the   word  to 


74  THE   MASSACHUSETTS    SOCIETY 

mean  all  farm  animals.  These  had  to  be  brought  and 
returned  on  foot  or  in  farm  wagons,  over  long,  and  so,  im- 
practicable roads.  Thus  the  shows  flourished  best  away 
from  the  vicinity  of  the  metropolis  where  the  cattle  were 
few,  in  the  districts  where  they  were  numerous. 

One  more  and  a  final  effort  was  made  to  keep  up  the  an- 
nual holiday  at  Brighton.  No  cattle  show  was  held  in 
1834,  but  a  butter  show  was  given  in  Boston.  In  1835  the 
last  of  the  cattle  shows  took  place,  and  in  many  respects 
was  a  notable  aiBfair.  Among  the  exhibits  was  a  bull  and 
three  cows  of  the  Ayrshire  breed,  which  had  been  imported 
by  the  society  at  a  cost  of  $1,175.  Among  the  notable 
men  present  at  the  society's  dinner,  some  of  whom  were 
members  of  the  society,  were  Lieut.  Governor  Armstrong, 
Daniel  Webster,  Edward  Everett,  Judge  Story,  Abbott 
Lawrence,  Gen.  H.  A.  S.  Dearborn,  ex-Governor  Lincoln, 
and  Dr.  Julius  of  Prussia.  Each  of  these  made  a  brief 
speech  at  the  dinner.  Daniel  Webster  became  a  member 
of  the  society  in  1822,  and  in  1833  was  chosen  one  of  the 
trustees.  At  the  cattle  show  of  1835  he  served  the  society 
in  another  capacity,  which  is  denoted  in  the  toast  by  which 
he  was  called  up  for  a  speech  after  the  dinner,  viz : 

Our  senator  in  Congress,  and  chairman  of  the  committee 
on  bulls,  milch  cows  and  yearlings. 

The  record  sustains  the  averment  of  the  toast,  for  the  re- 
port, for  the  year  1835,  of  that  classification,  of  animals  is 
signed  by  Daniel  Webster,  Asa  G.  Sheldon  and  Elijah 
Perry.  On  another  occasion,  the  society  dinner  of  1832, 
Mr.  Webster  had  been  recognized  in  the  double  capacity  of 
a  distinguished  statesman  and  a  practical  and  zealous  farm- 
er. This  was  the  first  time  the  society  had  met  at  dinner 
subsequent  to  the  delivery  of  Mr.  Webster's  celebrated 
speech  in  reply  to  Hayne.  The  toast  of  that  dinner  of 
1832  was : 

Our  senator  in  Congress— a  New  Hampshire  farmer: 
though  he  generally  manages  more  by  the  voice  than  the 
goad,  he  can,  on  proper  occasions,  take  the  bull  by  the 
horns. 


FOR   PROMOTING  AGRICULTURE.  15r 

At  the  successive  annual  dinners,  many  witty  and  perti- 
nent sentiments  were  produced.  Among  them  a  few  seem 
to  retain  something  of  their  original  sparkle,  despite  the 
lapse  of  time.  At  the  dinner  of  1824  the  following  was  of- 
fered by  Col.  Timothy  Pickering  : 

The  free-masonry  of  agriculture,  which  finds  a  brother  in 
every  clime. 

On  the  same  occasion  Gen.  H.  A.  S.  Dearborn  proposed 
the  following. 

The  memory  of  Blackstone^  who  designated  the  site  of 
Boston,  and  planted  the  first  orchards  in  Massachusetts  and 
Rhode  Island. 

At  the  dinner  of  1825  the  following  was  among  the 
regular  toasts : 

The  memory  of  the  great  unknown,  who  invented  the 
first  plough  ;  and  honor  to  Mr.  Jefferson,  one  of  the  princi- 
pal improvers  of  that  indispensable  implement. 

In  1832  among  the  guests  were  Mr.  Audubon,  the  re- 
nowned  ornithologist,  and  Dr.  Spurzheim,  the  originator  or 
discoverer  of  phrenology.  These  two  sentiments  were  of- 
fered at  the  table : 

Our  scientific  countryman,  John  James  Audubon — the 
flight  of  the  eagle  is  not  beyond  his  reach,  nor  the  tenants 
of  the  poultry  yard  beneath  his  notice. 

Our  honored  guest.  Dr.  Spurzheim — he  reveals  to  us  the 
secret  import  of  our  "  bumps ; "  we  greet  him  with  a 
bumper. 

The  record  indicates  that  the  society's  dinner  usually 
took  place  at  the  Dudley  Tavern.  This  stood  opposite  ta 
the  junction  of  the  two  roads  now  called  Cambridge  and 
Washington  streets.  The  city  of  Boston  is  building  at  the 
present  time  a  police  station  upon  the  site  of  the  ancient 
inn.  The  spot  is  about  700  feet  east  of  the  meeting  house, 
so  that  on  these  occasions  the  procession  was  re-formed 
after  the  public  exercises  were  ended,  and  the  march  was 
continued  to  the  place  of  dining,  giving  the  drums,  fifes 
and  other  instruments  a  second  opportunity  to  electrify  the 
throngs  that  occupied  the  wayside.     In  a  few  instances  the 


76  THE  MASSACHUSETTS   SOCIETY 

dinner  was  given  at  the  Bull's  Head  tavern,  adding  about 
1,000  feet  length  to  the  route  of  procession.  The  charge 
for  dinner  tickets  was  sometimes  $1.25  and  sometimes 
fl.50,  each.  Probably  the  table  was  more  abundantly 
spread  on  these  high-priced  days.  Among  the  society's 
dusty  files  may  be  found  a  manuscript,  which  evidently 
served  as  a  standard  or  model  for  preparing,  annually,  a 
written  bill  of  fare  as  copy  for  printing,  and  also  for  making 
a  draft  of  a  contract  with  the  caterer.  The  list  of  viands,  as 
thus  displayed.,  may  prove  interesting  to  those  having  in 
charge  similar  entertainments  at  this  period,  and  to  others 
who  may  like  to  be  put  in  a  way  to  judge  whether  the  same 
fidvance  has  been  made  in  this,  as  in  other  departments,  of 
agricultural  activity.     It  is  as  follows  : 

Bill  of  fare  for  the  dinner  at  the  Cattle  Show  of  the  Mas- 
sachusetts Society  for  Promoting  Agriculture  : 

Legs  of  mutton,  boiled.  Chickens,  boiled. 

"  roasted.  "         roasted. 

Beef,  roasted.  Turkeys,  boiled. 

"      a  la  mode.  "         roasted. 

Pigs  roasted.  Geese,  roasted. 

Hams.  Ducks,  roasted. 

Oyster  Sauce. 
Cranberry  sauce.  Jelly.  Celery. 

Pies.  Puddings.  Tarts.  Custards. 

Madeira  wine — Cider. 
Melons,  musk  and  water.     Apples.        Pears.        Grapes.      Peaches. 

Below  this  memorandum,  on  the  same  sheet  of  old 
manuscript,  is  the  following  : 

Memorandum  of  an  agreement  made  between of 

Brighton,  of  the  one  part,  and  the  trustees  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Society  for  Promoting  Agriculture,  on  the  other 
part : 

The  said agrees  to  prepare  and  provide  for  the 

said  society  at  their  annual  cattle  show  on  the inst.  an 

excellent  dinner,  agreeable  to  the  above  recited  bill  of  fare, 
.at  the  price  of  one  dollar  and  fifty  cents  for  each  person, 
and  to  furnish  fifty  bottles  of  Madeira  for  every  hundred 
guests,  and  in  that  proportion  for  as  many  persons  as  may 
be  present ;  and  that  the  wine  shall  be  of  a  quality  equal, 


FOR   PROMOTING  AGRICULTURE.  77 

at  least,  to  the  best  wine  sold  by  J.  D.  &  M.  Williams  for 
13  a  gallon,  and  that  everything  provided,  from  the  substan- 
tial to  the  lighter  dishes,  vegetables,  fruit,  etc.,  shall  be  of 
the  best  kind  which  can  possibly  be  procured,  and  that  the 
waiters  shall  be  the  best,  and  in  numbers  sufficient  for  easy 
attendance  upon  everybody. 

Then  follows  a  clause  covering  a  guaranty  on  the  part  of 
the  trustees  that  the  caterer  shall  be  paid  at  least  a  certaio 
sum,  to  secure  him  against  loss  in  the  event  of  a  stormy 
day  and  thin  attendance. 

Some  hint  has  been  given  of  the  distinction  of  these  oc- 
casions in  the  mention  of  names  of  eminent  men.  In  this- 
classification  belong  some  of  the  members  of  the  board  of 
trustees  ;  and  all  were  men  of  note.  Mr.  Webster,  after  he 
became  a  trustee,  was  probably  regularly  present  at  the  fes- 
tival, though  not  always  mentioned  in  the  curt  news 
reports  of  that  period,. which,  in  some  years  fail  to  give 
any  names  of  guests.  Col.  Pickering  and  Judge  Story 
were  frequent  attendants.  Edward  Everett,  then  known 
as  Professor  Everett,  appears  to  have  been  regarded  as  in- 
dispensable, in  the  after  dinner  proceedings,  after  his  first 
appearance  in  1822,  though  he  did  not  become  a  member  of 
the  society  till  1850.  The  Governor  usually  represented 
the  State,  and,  in  his  absence,  the  lieutenant  governor,  and 
sometimes  both  were  present.  The  judges  of  the  highest 
State  court  were  among  those  regularly  invited.  In  1818 
John  Adams,  ex-president  of  the  United  States  and  also  of 
the  society,  was  a  guest.  As  coming  from  distant  places 
are  mentioned  from  time  to  time  Judge  Buel  of  Albany, 
Judge  Smith  and  Hon.  Francis  Granger  of  New  York, 
Hon.  Matthew  Carey  of  Philadelphia,  Hon.  Mr.  Calvert  of 
Maryland,  J.  S.  Skinner  of  Baltimore,  William  Crafts  of 
South  Carolina,  Mr.  Lee  of  Virginia,  and  others  as  dele- 
gates from  agricultural  societies  in  New  Hampshire,  Con- 
necticut, Maine,  Pennsylvania  and  Canada.  In  1816  Com- 
modore William  Bainbridge  was  a  guest,  his  laurels  stilF 
fresh  that  he  had  won  upon  the  deck  of  the  frigate  Consti- 
tution, and  in  1820  Commodore  Isaac  Hull,  with  like  laurels, 


78  THE  MASSACHUSETTS   SOCIETY 

won  upon  the  same  vessel,  when  he  was  its  commander.  It 
seems  to  have  been  the  practice  to  extend  an  invitation  to 
the  commander  of  any  naval  vessel  in  the  port  of  Boston, 
at  the  time,  whether  of  the  American  or  other  nationali- 
ties. In  1827  Capt.  Basil  Hall  of  the  British  navy,  and 
General  Ccfifin  of  the  British  army  were  present.  Doubt- 
less the  list  might  be  much  extended  had  any  record  been 
kept.  The  British  consul  was  an  occasional  or  frequent 
guest,  and,  that  no  other  consuls  appear  to  have  been,  is 
probably  attributable  to  difference  of  language,  whereby 
the  convivial  wit  and  oratory  had  a  lesser  attraction  for 
them.  That  these  abounded  there  is  ample  evidence  ;  but 
everything  was  done  in  the  New  England  fashion.  It  is 
recorded  of  one  of  the  dinners  that  Rev.  John  Foster,  D. 
D.,  of  Brighton,  asked  the  blessing  before  the  banquet,  and 
Rev.  John  Pierce,  D.  D.,  of  Brookline,  offered  thanks  at  its 
close.  This  was,  no  doubt,  in  conformity  with  the  usual  or- 
der of  proceeding. 

It  may  be  remarked  that,  while,  as  respects  the  dignity 
of  these  occasions,  the  presence  of  leading  citizens  and 
intelligent  agriculturalists  of  distant  places  is  testimony, 
in  its  proper  degree,  it  is  significant  also  as  showing  that 
the  reputation  of  the  society's  exhibitions  was  wide- 
spread ;  and  a  reasonable  implication  would  be  that  the 
society's  influence  for  much  or  for  little  was  co-extensive. 
These  visitors  were  in  a  sense  envoys  —  self-appointed, 
indeed,  some  of  them,  or  perhaps  unconscious  of  having 
any  such  function.  But  when  they  returned  home  they 
made  report  among  their  neighbors  as  to  what  the  men 
of  bright  wits  and  long  purses  in  Massachusetts  were  do- 
ing to  promote  agriculture,  what  stage  of  advancement 
in  the  art  the  exhibition  gave  proof  of,  and  what  skill  and 
what  methods  were  requisite  for  success  in  holding  such 
exhibitions.  And  it  cannot  be  doubted  that,  in  instances, 
the  instruction  thus  conveyed  was  promotive  of  agricul- 
ture in  those  far  countries. 


FOR  PROMOTING  AGRICULTURE.  79 

The  public  exercises  in  the  meeting  house  were  always 
opened  with  prayer,  usually,  if  not  invariably,  by  the 
Brighton  pastor.  The  annual  address  in  most  instances 
dealt  with  such  problems  and  demands  of  the  agricultural 
art,  as  the  stage  of  development  reached  at  the  particular 
time,  might  suggest.  But  much  variety  of  treatment  was 
possible,  and  so  it  happens  that  a  part  of  the  credit  justly 
due  to  the  Massachusetts  society  is  for  contributions 
made,  through  its  orators,  to  the  literature  of  eloquence. 
Three  specimens,  one  in  aim  and  effectiveness,  but  diverse 
as,  perhaps,  is  possible  in  style,  will  illustrate  this  phase  of 
the  society's  experience,  and  permit  the  reader  to  decide, 
if  he  can,  which  is  the  excellent  orator,  or,  so  to  speak, 
where  should  be  awarded  the  "  premium." 

In  1822  the  address  was  delivered  by  Timothy  Picker* 
ing.  In  one  of  the  society's  publications  it  was  referred 
to  in  these  terms;  ''Col.  Pickering's  address  is  said  to 
have  been  too  practical  to  suit  the  ladies,  who  had  come 
in  great  numbers  to  hear  him.  It  savored  less  of  the 
flowers  than  of  the  compost  from  which  they  spring.^' 
The  recorder  confessedly  obtained  his  information  at 
second  hand.  Compost  was,  indeed,  one  of  the  topics. 
There  is  no  mention  of  flowers,  even  by  allusion.  Nor 
did  the  orator  indulge  in  so  much  as  a  flower  of  rhetoric 
thoroughout  his  long  discourse,  and  varied  from  an  inex- 
orable plainness  only  in  one  slight  touch  of  facetiousness. 
But  of  the  chrystalline  possibilities  of  English  speech  one 
might  search  far  for  a  better  example.  He  began  as  fol- 
lows : 

"  It  appears  to  be  expected  that  at  each  of  your  anniversary  meet- 
ini^s,  a  discoursa^on  agriculture  should  be  delivered.  The  trustees 
of  the  society  ha^e  requested  me  to  address  you  at  this  time.  But 
though  willing  to  be  laid  under  contribution  to  the  great  object  of 
your  institution,  it  has  occasioned  a  degree  of  solicitude  to  present 
something  meriting  your  attention.  From  the  multitude  of  books 
written  on  the  subject  of  agriculture— embracing  in  that  word  what- 
ever should  employ  the  thoughts  and  labors  of  the  skillful  husband- 
man—the Held  would  appear  almost  boundless  ;  yet  to  select  topics 
particularly  interesting  to  the  farmers  of  Massachusetts,  and  here  to 
discuss  them  so  as  to  communicate  useful  and  acceptable  informa- 
tion, was  not  unattended  with  difficulty.  My  address  must  necessa- 
rily be  miscellaneous. 

Philosophers  and  practical  husbandmen  have  for  ages  employed 


80  THE  MASSACHUSETTS    SOCIETY 

their  thoughts  and  their  pens  on  the  various  operations  in  agricul- 
ture ;  yet  diversities  of  opinion  still  exist,  and  the  reasons  of  many  of 
those  operations  have  been  little  more  than  conjectural.  What  con- 
stitutes the  food  of  plants  has  long  been  a  subject  of  diligent  inquiry. 
It  was  natural  to  suppose  that  if  this  food  could  be  discovered,  it 
could  more  easily  be  provided,  or  at  least  more  efficaciously  adminis- 
tered. The  palpable  differences  which  distinguish  the  immense 
variety  of  plants  in  their  forms,  textures,  colors  and  tastes,  naturally 
suggested  the  idea  that  each  variety  required  its  specific  nourish- 
ment. Yet,  it  being  a  matter  of  common  observation  that  the  same 
soil  would  nourish  and  bring  to  maturity  multitudes  of  different 
plants,  of  very  opposite  qualities— some  yielding  wholesome  food  and 
others  a  deadly  poison — at  the  same  time  all  growing  together  and 
robbing  one  another,  a  nobler  and  more  simple  idea  presented  itself 
—that  the  food  of  all  plants  was  the  same,  but  that  each  species  was 
endued  with  the  power  of  converting  that  food  to  its  own  peculiar 
substance;  as,  among  animals,  the  same  grain,  produced  all  the  varie- 
ties of  flesh  which  go  to  sustain  the  life  of  man," 

Having  thus  stated  the  problem,  the  speaker  proceeded  to  his  solu- 
tion, which  may  be  given  in  his  own  words,  omitting  a  few  connect- 
ing clauses  : 

"  By  the  modern  discoveries  in  chemistry,  these  mysterious  effects 
seem  to  be  accounted  for.  For  it  appears  that  all  kinds  of  plants  are 
composed  of  a  small  number  of  elements,  whose  different  arrange- 
ments and  combinations  produce  all  the  varieties  in  question.  The 
three  principal  ingredients  in  the  food  of  plants,  and  which,  by  them 
elaborated,  constitute  the  food  of  man  and  other  animals,  are  named 
by  chemists,  carbon,  oxygen  and  hydrogen;  in;other  words,  charcoal, 
vital  air  and  inflammable  air ;  and  these  exist  in  the  air  we  breathe  as 
well  as  in  manures  consisting  of  vegetable  and  animal  matters.  It 
may  seem  incredible  that  the  thin  air,  an  invisible  matter,  should 
be  changed  in  the  process  of  vegetation  into  solid  substances,  as 
wood  and  stone.  But  nothing  has  been  more  clearly  ascertained 
than  that  in  lUO  parts  of  pure  limestone,  forty-flve  parts  are  fixed  air 
or  carbonic  acid.  This,  in  the  act  of  burning  the  stone  into  lime,  is 
expelled;  for  if  at  that  time  the  stone  be  weighed  it  will  be  found  to 
have  lost  so  much  of  its  original  weight.  It  is  also  well  known  that 
this  same  lime,  which,  slaked  with  water  or  exposed  to  air,  falls  down 
into  a  powder,  will  immediately  afterwards  begin  to  imbibe  fixed  air 
or  carbonic  acid  from  the  atmosphere,  and  eventually,  though  slowly, 
recover  its  original  weight." 

Having  remarked  that  while  the  same  food  furnishes  nourishment 
to  a  variety  of  plants,  he  said  it  is  also  true  that  plants  have  prefer- 
ences among  the  variety  of  soils,  and  that  soils  like  plants  consist  of 
different  proportions  of  the  same  elements,  and  then  adds : 

"  Four  earths  generally  abound  in  soils,  and  these  by  chemists  are 
called  aluminous,  siliceous,  calcareous  and  magnesian ;  and  of  these 
the  three  first  are  the  principal,  and,  in  familiar  language,  well  known 
to  every  farmer  as  clay,  sand  and  lime.  Calcareous  earth  is  consid- 
ered as  essential  to  give  to  soils  the  capacity  of  attaining  to  the 
highest  degree  of  fertility.  Few  soils,  indeed,  are  wholly  destitute 
of  calcareous  matter,  but  very  few  possess  so  large  a  proportion  of  it 
as  would  be  salutary.  Limestone  is  the  great  source  of  calcareous 
matter.  But  this  is  of  various  qualities.  To  know,  then,  the  consti- 
tution of  the  lime  he  uses  is  important  to  the  farmer." 

Pursuing  the  chemical  problem  a  little  farther,  the  speaker  quoted 
Sir  Humphrey  Davy's  explanation  of  manner  in  which  lime  acts  upon 


FOR   PKOMOTING  AGRICULTURE.  81 

the  soil,  but  gives  preference  to  that  of  John  Young,  a  writer  ou  ag- 
riculture, which  in  brief  is  that  lime  in  the  soil  acting  either  as  a 
carbonate  or  hyper  carbonate,  though  chiefly  as  the  latter,  absorbs 
carbonic  acid,  a  most  important  article  of  vegetable  food,  which  car- 
bonic acid  is  copiously  evolved  in  the  putrefactive  process  of  manures; 
and  also,  when  there  is  a  scarcity  of  aliment  in  the  soil,  the  lime 
absorbs  carbonic  acid  from  the  air  and  disperses  it  according  to  the 
calls  of  vegetation.  Having  thus  elucidated  the  theory  of  lime  as  a 
co-worker  with  manures  under  the  soil  and  air  above  it,  the  speaker 
cited  experiences  of  farmers  in  Scotland,  England,  Pennsylvania, 
Delaware,  and,  by  implication,  in  Essex^ county,  to  show  that  lime  of 
the  right  kind  has  the  effect  which  the  theory  calls  for.  Then  he 
proceeded  to  a  discussion  of  barn-yard  manure,  and  described  how 
the  farmer  by  adopting  a  different  from  the  prevalent  practice  could 
double  the  available  quantity  of  it  by  the  method  of  composting. 
Then  taking  up  the  topic  of  breeding  he  gave  this  Interesting 
passage : 

"In  respect  to  live  stock  it  is  gratifying  to  see  the  spirit  excited 
within  the  last  five  or  six  years  to  attend  to  their  melioration  by  p>re- 
serving  some  of  the  most  promising  for  breeders  instead  of  sending 
them  to  the  shambles,  ana  by  introducing  from  other  countries  some 
individuals,  already  highly  improved.  New  England  was  originally 
granted  to  merchants  of  Plymouth,  in  the  country  of  Devon,  in  Eng- 
land. It  is  natural  to  suppose  that  some  of  the  early  settlers  sailed 
from  Plymouth  and  brought  with  them  the  Devon  breed  of  cattle. 
The  uniform  red  color  of  various  shades,  some  deep  red  approaching 
to  brown,  now  so  commonly  seen  among  us,  are  probably  descendants 
from  the  Devon  race  originally  imported.  Their  uniform  red  color 
corresponds  with  a  distinguishing  mark  of  the  Devon  breed,  now  so 
highly  improved  and  celebrated  in  England.  Among  our  own,  in- 
dividuals of  this  stock  might  be  selected,  admitting,  with  equal  care, 
of  equal  improvement  on  the  principles  now  so  well  understood  by 
English  breeders,  who  are  indebted  for  them  to  the  celebrated  Robert 
Bakewell.  On  the  same  principles  all  our  other  domestic  ani- 
mals may  be  improved.  And  this  course  appears  to  me  indispensable 
for  the  speedy  attainment  of  extensive  improvements  of  our  stock,  of 
neat  cattle  especially.  More  than  one  generation  must  pass  away  be- 
fore highly  improved  races  from  the  few  imported  animals  can  be 
generally  obtained.  In  this  important  work  every  substantial  farmer 
in  the  country  ought  to  engage,  and  by  their  rival  efforts  in  every 
county  the  great  object  might  be  attained.  Beauty  of  form  is  de- 
sirable, and  will  merit  attention  ;  but  strength  for  labor  and  ample 
supplies  for  the  dairy  are  more  important.  A  disposition  to  fatten  at 
an  early  age,  a  point  of  excellence  zealously  sought  for  in  England, 
where  husbandry  labors  are  chiefly  performed  by  horses,  is  not  of 
material  consequence  to  farmers  in  New  England,  where  oxen  for 
draught  and  cows  for  the  dairy  constitute  the  most  interesting 
stock." 

On  the  topic  of  good  butter  the  speaker  expressed  doubt  that  it 
could  be  produced  in  summer  without  the  aid  of  ice  houses  or  spring 
houses,  and  said  that  Philadelphia  had  the  reputation  of  better  sum- 
mer butter  than  any  other  city  in  the  United  States.  This  he  attrib- 
uted to  the  spring  houses  of  that  region,  which  he  described  thus : 

"Over  these  springs  small  houses  are  erected,  usually  of  stone. 


82  THE   MASSACHUSETTS    SOCIETY 

The  room  of  the  spring-house  may  be  from  ten  to  twenty  feet  square, 
according  to  the  quantity  of  milk  to  be  provided  for.  Trenches  are 
made  on  the  four  sides  of  the  floor,  bottomed  and  lined  with  flat 
stones.  The  residue  of  the  floor  is  likewise  paved  with  stones.  The 
water  from  the  spring  enters  at  the  side  of  one  trench,  runs  all 
round,  and  at  the  opposite  side  passes  away  at  a  hole  left  in  the  wall. 
The  under  side  of  this  hole  is  at  such  a  height  above  the  bottom  of 
the  trenches  as  to  raise  the  water  just  enough  to  keep  the  milk  cool 
in  the  pans,  which  are  placed  in  it.  This  water  runs  perpetually 
from  its  source,  and  as  constantly  passes  off  at  the  outlet.  In  one  of 
the  trenches  are  also  set  the  cream  pots  and  the  pots  of  butter  the 
night  before  it  is  carried  to  market." 

It  was  in  touching  upon  his  next  topic  that  the  orator  became 
slightly  facetious,  with  reference  to  the  impracticability  of  premiums 
in  the  given  case,  and  in  so  doing  implied  a  compliment  to  the  farm- 
ers whom  he  addressed.     He  said : 

"  Much  has  been  said  and  written  concerning  an  evil  which  per- 
vades our  whole  country,  from  one  extreme  of  the  Union  to  another, 
the  general  use  of  spirituous  liquors,  prevailing,  in  the  opinion  of 
wise  and  good  men,  to  a  mischievous  excess.  Sometimes  it  has  been 
hoped  that  agricultural  societies  might  find  means  to  check  the  per- 
nicious practice.  But  the  class  of  farmers  who  abstain  from  it  must 
be  too  numerous  to  become  candidates  for  premiums  on  temperance. 
Besides,  such  prudent  men  need  no  remuneration  for  their  abstinence. 
Here,  virtue  is  indeed  its  own  reward." 

The  orator  then  referred  to  the  general  use  by  farm  laborers  in 
France  and  Spain  of  small  wines,  instead  of  ardent  spirits,  and  added 
that  a  French  gentleman  with  whom  he  had  conversed  on  the  subject 
admitted  that  such  wine  was  not  equal  to  good  American  bottled 
cider.  Upon  the  topic  of  cider  thus  opened  up,  the  orator  discoursed 
at  considerable  length,  with  reference  solely  to  the  best  method  of 
producing  it.  He  dissented  from  the  prevalent  idea  that  any  kind  of 
apples  will  serve  in  majs:ing  good  cider,  and  renounced  specifically 
what  used  to  be  called  "cider  apples,"  which  he  terms  "wild  un- 
grafted  fruit,"  and  then  proceeded: 

"In  some  parts  of  New  Jersey  in  which  ciders  of  superior  excel- 
lence are  made,  the  farmers  produce  them  wholly  by  grafting;  nor 
can  we  expect  fully  to  rival  th^m  until  we  adopt  the  same  practice. 
In  Massachusetts  probably  different  kinds  of  trees  might  be  selected 
for  orchards  which  ripen  their  fruits  at  the  times  most  proper  for 
making  them  into  cider.  Apples  until  mellow  do  not  attain  their 
highest  flavor,  and  till  then  cannot  give  the  highest  flavor  to  cider.  It 
would  require  but  little  attention  to  select  and  propagate  the  best  ap- 
ples, thus  ripening  in  succession.  Such  ciders,  made  of  ripe  and  un- 
mixed fruits,  would  also  be  more  easily  manasred  in  the  most  difficult 
and  important  part  of  the  process  of  cider-making,  its  first  fermenta- 
tion, on  the  right  or  wrong  conducting  of  which  the  character  of  the 
cider  depends.  In  one  case  it  will  be  soft  and  pleasant;  in  the  other 
hard  and  austere." 

The  next  topic  of  the  address  was  the  ploughing  in  of  green  crops 
for  fertilization  which  was  treated  at  considerable  length.  The  fol- 
lowing was  the  peroration : 

"  It  is  supposed,  and  justly,  that  these  public  shows  by  exciting  an 
emulation  among  farmers  will  lead  to  important  improvements  incur 
husbandry.     The  general  question  whichthe  case  presents  is,  '  What 


FOP.   PROMOTING  AGRICULTURE.  83 

will  be  the  easiest,  cheapest  and  most  effectual  means  to  accomplish 
-this  great  object?'  A  principal  one  has  been  to  grant  premiums  for 
the  greatest  crops  of  specified  plants  on  given  quantities  of  land. 
One  pleasing  result  has  appeared,  that,  by  ample  manuring  and  good 
culture,  the  usual  crops  of  the  same  plants  may  be  doubled  and  treb- 
led. But  is  it  necessary  to  continue  premiums  of  this  kind?  May  not 
now  the  entire  management  of  farms,  rather,  claim  attention?  Instead 
of  numerous  small  premiums,  dispersed  on  a  variety  of  objects 
might  they  not  be  advantageously  concentrated  for  the  purpose  here 
intimated — the  cleanest,  most  economical,  the  most  productive  man- 
agement of  farms?  For  it  must  be  such  a  general  improvement  of 
the  entire  farm  that  will  constitute  the  farmer's  permanent  prosper- 
ity. 

In  ploughing  the  just  aim  must  be  to  make  a  straight  furrow  and  of 
uniform  breadth  and  depth,  and  so  to  turn  over  the  furrow-slice  as 
completely  to  cover  whatever  plants  or  manure  are  upon  it.  All  this 
cannot  be  effected  with  a  hurried  step.  And  what  benefit  can  possi- 
bly result  from  such  a  step?  A  farmer's  oxen  at  the  plough  must 
labor  a  great  part  of  the  day  to  properly  turn  over  an  acre.  To  do 
this  without  a  driver  will  require  a  skillful  ploughman  and  well- 
trained  oxen.  To  encourage  the  forming  of  such  ploughmen 
and  oxen,  should  I  conceive,  be  the  sole  object  of  ploughing 
matches.  Working  oxen  at  the  plough  may  be  considered  as  well 
trained  when  they  obey  the  voice  of  the  ploughman,  keep  the  track 
in  which  they  ought  to  move,  and  step  as  quickly  as  will  be  compati- 
ble with  the  necessary  continuance  of  their  labor.  And  as  the 
annual  exhibitions  at  this  place  have  demonstrated  the  practicability 
of  performing  the  general  operations  of  the  plough  with  one  yoke  of 
oxen,  without  a  driver,  it  may  merit  consideration  whether  premiums 
should  not  be  thus  limited  in  all  future  trials  with  the  plough.  Un- 
der such  limitations  every  farmer  who  is  ambitious  to  exhibit  proofs 
of  superiority  in  these  points,  would  be  sensible  that  his  oxen  must 
attain  a  certain  size,  and  be,  though  not  fat,  yet  well-fleshed,  which 
would  give  strength  to  their  sinews  and  momentum  to  their  exer- 
tions. With  such  oxen  all  our  agricultural  labors  would  be  so  well 
perfoi-med  that  there  would  be  no  room  to  envy  the  condition  of 
farmers  in  any  of  our  sister  states,  in  some  of  which  their  horses 
consume,  perhaps,  as  much  grain  as  would  furnish  bread  to  all  the 
inhabitants  of  New  England." 

It  may  be  remarked  that  the  trustees  acted  upon  two 
of  Col.  Pickering's  suggestions  in  the  following  year, 
when  they  offered  a  premium,  through  certain  of  the 
county  societies,  for  the  best  cultivated  farm,  and  modified 
the  regulations  of  the  Brighton  cattle  show,  so  that  pre- 
miums were  given  in  the  ploughing  match  for  single- 
yoke  teams  and  double-yoke  teams,  separately.  Previously 
all  had  ploughed  in  one  competition.  It  was  made  optional 
with  owners  of  single  teams,  however,  whether  or  not  to 
have  a  driver  other  than  the  ploughman.  A  premium 
^^  for  the  best  farm,"  to  be  awarded  upon  the  judgment  of 
a  committee  of  the  trustees,  was  first  offered  in  1830.  The 
reason  for  non-action  previously,  is  stated  in  the  report 


84  THE   MASSACHUSETTS   SOCIETY 

of  1830  to  have  been,  that  '^  the  district,  over  which  the 
society  extends,  being  so  large,  it  would  not  be  practica- 
ble for  the  trustees  personally  to  inspect  the  farms  of  the 
applicants.  In  this  respect  the  county,  or  local  societies, 
have  a  great  advantage  over  ours."  When  the  practice 
was  entered  upon,  in  1830,  the  sworn  statements  of  appli- 
cants were  taken  as  the  basis  for  decision.  Still  later  the 
trustees  employed  an  agent  to  visit  farms  thus  in  compe- 
tition. 

The  orator  of  the  year  1820  was  Josiah  Quincy.  He, 
like  Col.  Pickering,  was  familiar  with  both  the  practice 
and  theory  of  farming.  An  adequate  apprehension  of 
theory  and  practice  was  the  habit  of  his  mind,  not  better 
illustrated  in  conducting  a  farm  than  administering  the 
affairs  of  a  city  or  a  university.  In  preparing  his  address 
he  had  both  a  practical  and  a  literary  end  to  serve.  As 
to  the  former  he  withheld  nothing  requisite  to  a  proper  in- 
struction of  his  farmer  audience  ;  was  blunt  and  plain 
almost  to  the  point  of  audacity  in  the  homiletic  part  of 
that  instruction,  and,  withal,  dealt  as  aptly  as  seems  pos- 
sible in  regard  to  the  sensibilities  of  the  ladies.  He  began 
as  follows : 

The  board  of  trustees  of  the  Massachusetts  Society  for 
Promoting  Agriculture,  have  requested  that  I  should  ad- 
dress you  this  day  on  topics  connected  with  the  objects 
of  their  institution,  and  with  the  occasion.  In  acceding 
to  their  appointment  I  have  yielded  to  considerations  of 
official  duty.  For  the  manner  in  which  the  task  shall  be 
executed,  I  need  not  apologize  to  practical  and  intelligent 
men,  such  as  I  have  now  the  honor  to  address.  They  know 
well  how  difficult  it  is  to  cast  over  a  trite  subject  the  air 
of  novelty,  or  to  make  one  that  is  familiar,  interesting. 
There  is  also  something  in  the  every  day  labors  of  agri- 
culture apparently  too  rough  for  a  polished  discourse,  too 
common  for  one  that  is  elevated,  and  too  inseparable  from 
soil  and  its  composts  to  be  treated,  to  the  general  [ear, 
without  danger  of  offence  to  that  fastidiousness  of  fancy', 
which  is  miscalled  refinement. 

Amid  the   perils   which   thus   surround  every   public 


FOR   PROMOTING   AGRICULTURE.  85 

speaker  upon  such  topics,  where  on  the  one  hand  the 
rough  necessities  of  the  farmer  require  plainness  and  par- 
ticularity, and  where  on  the  other  the  over-scrupulous- 
ness of  the  imagination  requires  that  important  subjects 
of  agriculture  should  be  generalized  and  intimated,  rather 
than  uttered,  I  shall  deem  myself  sufficiently  fortunate  if 
it  shall  be  my  lot  to  escape  without  failing  in  fidelity  to 
the  interest  of  the  country,  and  yet  without  violating  the 
dainty  ear  of  city  sensibility.  Our  purpose,  then,  this  day 
is  to  seek  what  is  true  and  what  is  useful  in  relation  to 
the  interests  of  our  agriculture. 

In  executing  this  purpose  I  shall  address  myself  chiefly 
to  that  great  body  of  our  countrymen  who  are  emphati- 
-cally  called,  farmers  ;  by  which  I  mean  the  great  body  of 
Massachusetts  yeomanry,  men  who  stand  upon  the  soil 
and  are  identified  with  it ;  for  there  rest  their  own  hopes 
and  there  the  hopes  of  their  children.  Men  who  have  for 
most  part  great  farms  and  small  pecuniary  resources  ;  who 
are  esteemed  more  for  their  land  than  for  their  money ; 
more  for  their  good  sense  than  for  their  land,  and  more 
for  their  virtue  than  for  either.  Men  who  are  the  chief 
strength,  support  and  column  of  our  political  society,  and 
who  stand  to  the  other  orders  of  the  state  in  the  same  re- 
lation which  the  shaft  bears  to  the  pillar ;  in  respect  of 
whom  all  other  arts,  trades  and  professions  are  but  orna- 
mental work,  the  cornice,  the  frieze  and  the  Corinthian 
capital. 

I  am  thus  distinct  in  declaring  my  sentiment  concern- 
ing the  importance  and  value  of  this  class  of  men  from  no 
purpose  of  temporary  excitement  or  of  personal  concilia- 
tion, but  because  I  think  it  just,  and  their  due,  and 
because,  being  about  to  hint  concerning  errors  and 
defects  in  our  agriculture,  I  am  anxious  that  such  a 
course  of  remark  should  not  be  attributed  to  any  want  of 
honor  or  respect  for  the  farming  interest.  Whatever 
tends  to  stimulate  and  direct  the  industry  of  our  farmers, 
whatever  spreads  prosperity  over  our  fields,  whatever 
carries  happiness  to  the  home  and  content  to  the  bosoms 
of  our  yeomanry,  tends  more  than  everything  else  to  lay 
the  foundations  of  our  republic  deep  and  strong,  and  to 
give  the  assurance  of  perpetuity  to  our  liberties. 

The  errors  and  deficiencies  of  our  practical  agriculture 
may  be  referred  in  a  general  survey  with  sufficient  accu- 
racy to  two  sources,  the  want  of  scope  of  view  among  our 


86  THE  MASSACHUSETTS   SOCIETY 

farmers  and  the  want  of  system  in  their  plans.  Those  to- 
which  I  shall  allude  will  not  be  such  as  require  anyjextent 
of  capital  to  rectify.  All  that  will  be  requisite  is  a  little 
more  of  that  industry  of  which  our  farmers  have  already 
so  much,  or  that  industry  a  little  differently  directed.  It 
is  not  by  great  and  splendid  particular  improvements  that 
the  interests  of  agriculture  are  best  subserved,  but  by  a 
general  and  gradual  amelioration.  Most  is  done  for  agri- 
culture when  every  farmer  is  excited  to  small  attentions 
and  incidental  improvements ;  such  as  proceed,  for  in- 
stance, from  a  constant  application  of  a  few  plain  and 
common  principles.  Such  are,  that,  in  farming,  nothing 
should  be  lost,  and  nothing  should  be  neglected  ;  that 
everything  should  be  done  in  its  proper  time,  everything 
put  in  its  proper  place,  everything  executed  by  its  proper 
instrument.  These  attentions,  when  viewed  in  their  in- 
dividual effect,  seem  small,  but  they  are  immense  in  the 
aggregate.  When  they  become  general,  taken  in  connec- 
tion with  the  dispositions  which  precede  and  the  conse- 
quences which  inevitably  follow  such  a  state  of  improve- 
ment, they  include,  in  fact,  everything. 

Scope  of  view  in  a  general  sense  has  relation  to  the  wise 
adaptation  of  means  to  their  final  ends.  When  applied  to 
a  farmer  it  implies  the  adaptation  of  all  the  buildings  and 
parts  of  a  farm  to  their  appropriate  purposes,  so  that 
whatever  is  fixed  and  permanent  in  its  character,  may  be 
so  arranged  as  best  to  facilitate  the  labor  of  the  farm  and 
best  to  subserve  the  comfort,  convenience  and  success  of 
the  proprietor.  Our  ideas  upon  this  subject  may  be  best 
collected  from  inspection. 

If  our  fellow  farmers  please,  we  will  therefore  in  imag- 
ination adjourn  for  a  few  moments,  and  take  our  stand 
first  at  the  door  of  the  farmhouse.  I  say  "  at  the  door." 
Far  be  it  from  me  to  enter  within  it.  Far  be  it  from  me 
to  criticise  the  department  of  the  other  sex,  or  to  suggest 
that  anything  peculiarly  subject  to  their  management  can 
be  either  ameliorated  or  amended.  Nor  is  it  necessary  ; 
for  I  believe  it  is  a  fact  almost  universally  true,  that  where 
the  good  man  of  the  family  is  extremely  precise  and  reg- 
ular and  orderly  in  his  arrangements,  without  doors,  he 
never  fails  to  be  seconded,  and  even  surpassed,  by  the  or- 
der, the  regularity  and  neatness  of  the  good  woman 
within. 

Let  us  cast  our  eyes  then  about  us,  from  the  door  of 


FOR   PKOMOTING  AGRICULTUKE.  87 

the  farm-house.  What  do  we  see?  Are  the  fences  on 
the  road  in  good  condition  ?  Is  the  gate  whole,  antl  on 
its  hinges  ?  Are  the  domestic  animals  excluded  from  im- 
mediate connection  with  the  dwelling  house,  or  at  least, 
from  the  front  yard  ?  Is  there  a  green  plot  adjoining, 
well  protected  from  pigs  and  poultry,  so  that  the  excel- 
lent housewife  may  advantageously  spread  and  bleach  the 
linen  and  yarn  of  the  family  ?  Is  the  wood-pile  well  lo- 
cated, so  as  not  to  interfere  with  the  passenger,  or  is  it 
located  with  especial  eye  to  the  benefit  of  the  neighboring 
surgeon?  Is  it  covered,  so  that  its  work  may  be  done  in 
stormy  weather  ?  Is  the  well  convenient,  and  is  it  shel- 
tered, so  tliat  the  females  of  the  family  may  obtain  water 
without  exposure,  and  at  all  times,  and  in  all  seasons? 
Do  the  subsidiary  arrangements  indicate  such  contrivance 
and  management  as  that  nothing  useful  should  be  lost, 
and  nothing  useless  offend  ?  To  this  end  are  there  drains, 
conveying  what  is  liquid  in  filth  and  offal  to  the  barn- 
yard or  the  pens  ?  Are  there  receptacles  for  what  is  solid, 
so  that  bones  and  broken  utensils  may  occasionally  be 
carried  away  and  buried?  If  all  this  be  done,  it  is  well ; 
and  if,  in  addition  to  this,  a  general  air  of  order  and  care 
be  observable,  little  more  is  to  be  desired.  The  first  proper 
object  of  a  farmer's  attention,  his  own  and  liis  family's 
comfort  and  accommodation  is  attained.  Everything 
about  him  indicates  that  self  respect  which  lies  at  the 
foundation  of  good  husbandry,  as  well  as  of  good  morals. 
But  if  any  of  us  on  our  return  home  should  find  our 
door  barricaded  by  a  mingled  mass  of  chip  and  dirt ;  if  the 
pathway  to  it  be  an  inlaid  pavement  of  bones  and  broken 
bottles,  the  relics  of  departed  earthen  ware  or  the  frag- 
ments of  abandoned  domestic  utensils  ;  if  the  deposit  of 
the  sink,  settle  and  stagnate  under  the  windows,  and  is- 
neither  conducted  to  the  barnyard,  nor  has  anything  pro- 
vided to  absorb  its  riches  and  to  neutralize  its  effluvia  ;  if 
the  nettle,  the  thistle,  the  milk-weed,  the  elderberry,  the 
barberry  bush,  the  Roman  wormwood,  the  burdock,  the 
dock  and  the  devil's  apple,  contend  for  mastery  along  the 
fences,  or  flower  up  in  every  corner  ;  if  the  domestic  ani- 
mals have  fair  play  round  the  mansion,  and  the  poultry 
are  roosting  on  the  window  stools,  the  geese  strutting 
sentry  at  the  front  door,  and  the  pig  playing  puppy  in  the 
entrj^  the  proprietor  of  such  an  abode  may  call  himself  a 
farmer,  but,  practically  speaking,  he  is  ignorant  of  the  A. 


S8  THE   MASSACHUSETTS   SOCIETY 

B.  C.  of  his  art.  For  the  first  letters  of  a  farmer's  alpha- 
bet ^re  neatness,  comfort,  order. 

As  we  proceed  to  the  farm  we  will  stop  one  moment  at 
the  barnyard.  We  shall  say  nothing  concerning  the  ar- 
rangements of  the  barn.  They  must  include  comfort, 
<}onvenience,  protection  for  his  stock,  his  hay  and  his  fod- 
der, or  they  are  little  or  nothing.  We  go  thither  for  the 
purpose  only  of  looking  at  what  the  learned  call  the  ster- 
corary,  but  which  farmers  know  by  the  name  of  the  ma- 
nure heap.  Will  our  friends  from  the  city  pardon  us  if 
we  detain  them  a  moment  at  this  point?  Here  we  stop, 
the  rather,  because  here,  more  than  anywhere  else,  the 
farmers  of  Massachusetts  are  careless  and  deficient;  be- 
cause .on  this,  more  than  on  anything  else,  depends  the 
wealth  of  the  farmer,  and  because  this  is  the  best  criter- 
ion of  his  present  and  the  surest  pledge  of  his  future  suc- 
cess. What  then  is  its  state  ?  How  is  it  located  ? 
Sometimes  we  see  a  barn-yard  on  the  top  of  a  hill,  with 
two  or  three  rocks  in  the  centre,  so  that  whatever  is  car- 
ried or  left  there  is  sure  of  being  chiefly  exhaled  by  the 
sun  or  washed  away  by  the  rain.  Sometimes  it  is  to  be 
seen  in  the  hollow  of  a  valley,  into  which  all  the  hills  and 
neighboring  buildings  precipitate  their  waters.  Of  con- 
sequence all  its  contents  are  drowned  or  water-soaked,  or, 
what  is  worse — there  having  been  no  care  about  the  bottom 
of  the  receptacle — its  wealth  goes  off  in  the  under  strata, 
to  enrich,  possibly,  the  antipodes.  The  Chinese,  for  aught 
we  know,  may  be  the  better  for  it,  but  it  is  lost  forever  to 
these  upper  regions. 

Now  all  this  is  to  the  last  degree  wasteful,  absurd  and 
impoverishing.  Too  much  cannot  be  said  to  expose  the 
loss  and  injury  which  the  farmer  thus  sustains.  Let  the 
farmer  want  whatever  else  he  pleases  ;  but  let  no  man  call 
himself  a  farmer  who  suffers  himself  to  want  a  receptacle 
for  his  manure,  water-tight  at  the  bottom  and  covered  at 
the  top,  so  that  below  nothing  shall  be  lost  by  drainage, 
and  above  nothing  be  carried  away  by  evaporation.  Let 
every  farmer  wanting  such  protection  for  his  manure  be 
assured  that  he  loses  by  the  sun  and  rain  ten-fold  as  much 
as  will  pay  all  his  taxes,  state,  town  and  national,  every 
year. 

The  speaker  next  discussed  the  topic  of  interior  fences 
in  the  arable  or  cultivated  part  of  the  farm  and  declared 


FOR  PROMOTING   AGRICULTURE.  89 

them  to  be  worse  than  useless.  He  urged  that  pasture 
land  should  be  separated  by  a  sufficient  fence  from  the 
•cultivated  land,  and  that  the  condition  of  the  separated 
areas  should  be  a  permanent  one ;  that  no  beasts  should 
be  permitted  to  range  upon  the  soil  destined  for  the  plough 
and  the  scythe ;  that  nothing  is  gained  by  pasturing  mow- 
ing-land, because  any  apparent  gain  is  offset  by  the  labor, 
cost  of  building  and  keeping  in  repair  interior  fences,  by 
loss  of  time  in  ploughing  through  frequent  turning  about 
of  the  team,  and  loss  of  crops  at  the  '*  head-lands,"  where 
barberry  bushes,  nettles  and  injurious  weeds  grow,  and 
field  mice,  wood-chucks,  skunks,  and  squirrels  inhabit; 
that  surplus  stones  may  be  disposed  of  by  thickening  the 
outer  walls,  or  by  building  them  into  pyramids  and  cov- 
ering them  with  grape  vines;  and  that,  while  pasture 
land  may  profitably  be  divided  by  interior  walls,  arable 
land,  though  it  were  a  hundred  acres,  should  be  in  one 
lot,  for  then  the  plough  runs  clear  in  a  long  furrow. 
Upon  the  topic  of  building  farm  houses  he  said : 

''The  fault  is  not  peculiar  to  farmers — it  is  true  of  men  in 
.almost  every  rank  and  condition  of  life  —  that  when  about 
to  })uild  they  often  exceed  their  means,  and  almost  always 
go  beyond  the  real  wants  of  their  families,  and  the  actual 
requisition  of  their  other  relations  in  life.  But  let  not  the 
sound,  practical  good  sense  of  the  country  be  misled  by  the 
false  taste  and  false  pricle  of  the  city,  where  wealth,  ferment- 
ing by  reason  of  the  greatness  of  its  heaps,  is  ever  fuming 
away  in  palaces,  the  objects  of  present  transitory  pride,  and 
too  often  of  future  long- continued  repentance. 

Now  wliat  do  we  sometimes  see  in  the  country  ?  Why, 
a  thriving  farmer,  touclied  with  this  false  taste,  will  throw 
up  a  building  thirty  or  forty  feet  square,  of  two  or  two  and 
a  half  stories  height,  four  rooms  on  a  floor,  with  an  im- 
mcasureable  length  of  outbuilding  behind.  And  what  is 
the  consequence  of  all  this  greatness  ?  Why,  often,  for 
years  the  house  will  not  be  wholly  glazed  ;  or  if  glazed,  not 
clapboarded  ;  or  if  clapboarded  not  finished ;  the  destined 
portico  never  put  up  ;  the  destined  front  step  never  put 
down  ;  and  the  ragged  clapboards  on  each  side  of  the  front 
.door,  there  they  stand,  year  in  and  year  out,  staring  and 


90  THE   MASSACHUSETTS    SOCIETY 

gaping  at  each  other  with  a  look  of  utter  despair  of  ever 
being  united.  And  if  you  go  into  these  mansions,  what  do 
you  see?  Why,  you  will  often  find  that  while  the  good  man 
of  the  house  and  his  consort  are  snugly  provided  with  warm, 
well-plastered  rooms,  ttie  children  and  all  the  rest  of  the 
family  sleep  about  in  unfinished  chambers,  subject  to  every 
sort  of  exposure.  And  the  ''  best  room,''  as  it  is  called  in 
the  original  plan  of  the  mansion,  there  it  stands,  the  lum- 
ber room  of  the  family  for  lialf  a  century,  the  select  and 
eternal  abode  of  crickets  and  cockroaches  and  all  sorts  of 
creeping  and  skipping  things,  full  of  old  iron  and  old  leath- 
er, the  stuffing  of  decayed  saddles,  the  ragged  relics  of  torn 
bed  quilts,  and  the  orts  and  ends  of  twenty  generations  of 
corn  cobs. 

When  will  man  learn  that  his  true  diginty,  as  well  as 
happiness,  consists  in  proportion?  In  the  proportion  of 
means  to  ends,  of  purpose  to  means,  of  conduct  to  the  con- 
dition in  life  in  which  a  kind  Providence  has  placed  him. 
The  pride  of  the  farmer  should  be  in  his  fields.  In  their 
beauty,  in  their  order,  in  their  product,  he  should  place  the 
gratification  of  his  humble  and  honorable  ambition.  The 
farmer's  great  want  is  capital.  Never  sliould  his  dwelling 
be  splendid  at  the  expense  of  his  farm.  In  the  farm  all 
that  is  surplus  in  his  capital  should  concentrate.  Whatever 
is  uselessly  expended  elsewhere  is  so  much  lost  to  his  fami- 
ly and  his  fortune. 

Want  of  system  in  agriculture  leads  to  loss  of  time  and 
increase  of  expense.  System  has  chief  reference  to  the 
succession  of  crops ;  to  sufficiency  of  hands,  and  to  selec- 
tion of  instruments.  As  to  the  succession  of  crops,  called 
rotation,  almost  the  only  plan  of  our  farmers  is  to  get  their 
lands  into  grass  as  soon  as  possible,  and  then  to  keep  them 
in  grass  as  long  as  possible.  The  consequence  of  this  prac- 
tice,— for  it  deserves  not  the  name  of  a  system— is  to  lead 
to  the  disuse,  or  rather  to  the  least  possible  use,  of  that 
great  source  of  agricultural  riches,  the  plough.  According- 
ly, it  has  almost  become  a  maxim  tiiat  the  plough  is  the 
most  expensive  of  all  instruments.  And  so  it  is,  and  so  it 
must  be,  as  the  business  of  our  farms  is  managed.  By 
keeping  lands  down  to  grass  as  long  as  possible,  that  is  as 
long  as  tlie  hay  product  will  pay  for  mowing,  the  con- 
sequence is  that  our  lands,  when  we  are  obliged,  reluctantly, 
to  put  the  plough  into  them,  are  bound  and  matted  and 
cross-barred  with  an   impervious,  inextricable,  infrangible 


FOR   PROMOTING  AGRICULTURE.  91 

web  of  root  and  sod.  Hence,  results  a  grand  process,  called 
''  a  breaking  up,"  with  four,  five  or  six  bead  of  cattle,  as  the 
case  may  be  ;  with  three  men,  one  at  the  ox-head,  one  at  the 
plough-beam,  and  the  third  at  the  plough  handle.  Is  there 
any  wonder  that  such  a  ploughing  apparatus  is  an  object  of 
aversion?  It  is  impossible  for  any  man  to  witness  a 
''  breaking  up,"  of  this  kind,  without  being  forcibly  reminded 
of  the  reflection  made  by  a  dry  Dutch  commentator  on  that 
passage  in  the  book  of  Kings,  where  it  is  said  that  Elisha 
was  found  "  ploughing  with  twelve  yoke  of  oxen."  "  Well," 
said  the  commentator,  "it  is  no  wonder  that  Elisha  was 
glad  to  quit  ploughing  for*"prophesying,  if  he  could  not 
break  up  with  less  than  twelve  yoke  of  oxen." 

In  fact  the  plough  is  the  natural  instrument  of  the  farm- 
er's prosperity,  and  the  system  of  every  farmer  ought  to 
have  reference  to  facilitating  and  increasing  its  use.  Let 
a  rotation  be  adopted  embracing  two  or  three  years  succes- 
sive ploughings,  for  deepening  and  pulverizing;  the  crops  to 
be  succeeded  by  grain  and  grass  for  two  or  three  years 
more.  The  plough  on  its  return  every  five,  six  or  seven 
years  finds,  in  such  case,  the  land  mellow,  soft,  unimpli- 
cated  by  root,  and  tender  in  sod.  The  consequence  is  that 
a  breaking  up  is  then  done  with  one  yoke  and  one  man. 
The  expense  is  comparatively  small.  There  is  nothing  ta 
deter,  and  everything  to  invite,  the  farmer  to  increase  the 
use  of  that  most  invaluable  of  all  instruments.  It  ought  to 
be  a  principle  that  our  farming  should  be  so  systematized 
that  all  breaking  up  should  be  done  with  one  yoke  of  oxen 
and  one  man,  who  both  drives  and  directs  the  plough. 

Systematic  agriculture  also  requires  sufiiciency  of  hands. 
Although  this  is  a  plain  dictate  of  common  sense,  yet  the 
want  of  being  guided  by  it  is  one  great  cause  of  ill  success 
in  our  agriculture.  Because  we  hear  every  day  that  "  labor 
runs  away  with  profits  in  farming,"  almost  every  farmer 
lays  it  down,  as  a  maxim,  to  do  with  as  little  labor  as  possi- 
ble; and  it  almost  always  results  in  practice  in  doing  with 
less  than  he  ought.  Labor  wisely  directed  and  skillfully 
managed,  can, in  the  nature  of  things,  resultin  nothing  else 
than  profit.  The  great  secret  of  European  success  in  agri- 
culture is  stated  to  be,  "  much  labor  on  comparatively  little 
land."  Now  the  whole  tenor  of  Massachusetts  husbandry 
from  the  first  settlement  of  the  country  has  been,  little  labor 
on  mucli  land.  Is  it  wonderful,  then,  that  success  should 
be  little  or  nothing,  when  conduct  is  in  direct  violation  of 
the  principle  on  which  success  depends? 


•92  THE   MASSACHUSETTS   SOCIETY 

The  speaker  closed  with  a  series  of  apothegms  applicable 
in  practical  agriculture. 

In  1833  Edward  Everett  was  the  orator.  It  may  be  deemed 
•certain  that  he  had  no  practical  knowledge  of  the  art  of 
turning  a  furrow,  and  improbable  that,  at  that  date,  he  had 
•ever  superintended  the  laying  out  of  a  carrot  field,  or  even 
the  setting  of  a  hedge- row.  He  therefore  did  not  take  the 
point  of  view  of  Col.  Pickering,  nor,  as  a  farmer  speaking 
to  brother  farmers,  adopt  the  admonitory  tone  of  Mr. 
Quincy.     He  began  thus  : 

It  is  generally  admitted  that  since  the  establishment  of 
cattle  shows  in  this  country,  the  condition  of  our  agricul- 
ture has  manifestly  improved.  Before  that  time,  our  hus- 
bandmen seemed  to  want  those  means  of  improvement  and 
encouragement  to  action,  which  are  enjoyed  by  their  fellow 
citizens  engaged  in  several  other  pursuits.  Instead  of  liv- 
ing together  in  large  towns,  they  are  scattered  over  the  sur- 
face of  the  country.  Instead  of  having  two-thirds  of  every 
newspaper  filled  with  advertisements  or  information  relative 
to  their  occupation,  as  is  the  case  with  merchants,  the  most 
they  could  promise  themselves  was  that  the  weight  of  an 
•enormous  vegetable  should  be  faithfully  recorded,  and  the 
memory  of  some  calf  with  two  heads  or  six  legs  should  be 
handed  to  posterity.  They  held  no  conventions  and  assem- 
blies, like  the  clergy  and  physicians  ;  were  not  brought  to- 
gether, like  the  lawyers,  at  the  periodical  terms  of  court  to 
take  counsel  with  each  other,  and  seemed  not  to  possess,  in 
any  way,  the  means  of  a  rapid  comparison  and  interchange 
of  opinion  and  feeling.  Since  the  establishment  of  the  cat- 
tle shows  of  the  Massachusetts  Society  for  Promoting  Agri- 
<iulture,  and  those  of  the  several  county  societies,  this  state 
of  things  has  been  greatly  amended,  and  to  a  very  consid- 
erable degree  through  the  agency  of  these  institutions. 

The  cultivators  of  the  soil  are  now  brought  together. 
Their  agricultural  improvements,  their  superior  animals, 
their  implements  of  husbandry,  the  products  of  their  farms, 
their  methods  of  cultivation,  are  all  subjects  of  inquiry, 
comparison  and  excitement.  The  premiums  proposed  have 
given  a  spring  to  the  enterprise  of  the  cultivators,  not  on 
account  of  the  trifling  pecuniary  reward  which  is  held  out, 
but  through  the  influence  of  a  generous  spirit  of  emulation. 


FOR   PROMOTING   AGRICULTUEE.  9^ 

The  agricultural  magazines  and  newspapers  take  up  the 
matter  in  this  stage  and  give  all  desirable  notoriety  to  what 
is  done  and  doing.  The  knowledge  of  every  improvement 
is  widely  diffused.  Increased  prosperity  begins  to  show 
itself  as  the  reward  of  increased  skill  and  knowledge,  and 
thus  the  condition  of  the  husbandman  is  rendered  more 
comfortable  and  more  honorable. 

The  orator  then  entered  upon  a  historical  survey  of  the 
conditions  of  agriculture  from  the  earliest  times,  premising 
that  with  agriculture,  civilization  begins  ;  that  where  it  does 
not  exist,  progress  is  not  possible,  as  is  evinced  in  the  con- 
dition of  the  Arabs  and  the  Tartars,  who  roam  with  their 
flocks  and  herds  over  a  vast  region,  destitute  of  all  those 
refinements  which  require  for  their  growth  a  permanent 
residence,  and  a  community  organized  into  the  various  pro- 
fessions, arts  and  trades,  and  who  are  found,  now,  after  the 
lapse  of  4000  years,  in  the  same  condition  in  which  they  ex- 
isted in  the  days  of  Abraham.  The  Greeks  and  the  Ro- 
mans, he  said,  held  agriculture  in  honor,  especially  the 
latter.  The  farmer  was  with  them  a  respected  and  inde- 
pendent citizen.  Cincinnatus,  who  was  called  by  Livy 
"  the  hope  of  the  Roman  empire,"  was  found,  when  called 
upon  to  take  the  position  of  supreme  ruler,  engaged  in  labor 
upon  his  farm  of  four  acres.  At  a  later  period  great  land- 
holders who  owned  slaves  were  numerous ;  but  the  class 
which  tilled  their  own  small  farms  did  not  disappear  till 
the '  overthrow  of  the  empire  by  barbarous  tribes.  Under 
the  sway  of  feudalism,  which  followed,  those  who  cultivated 
the  soil  were  serfs,  attached  to  the  soil  and  sold  with  it,  as 
the  cattle  of  the  farm. 

In  the  contemporary  period,  the  orator  found  in  Europe 
and  America  (not  including  slaves),  four  classes  of  cultiva- 
tors of  the  soil.  The  first  in  the  list  were  serfs  or  the  farm 
laborers  of  Russia,  living  in  conditions  but  little  better  than 
that  of  the  vassals  under  the  feudal  system  ;  the  second, 
those  cultivating  farms  ''  at  halves,"  that  is  for  half  the  an- 
nual product ;  the  third,  the  tenants  of  farms  by  lease,  the 
condition  generally  of  farmers  in  England  ;  and  the  fourth, 


94  THE   MASSACHUSETTS   SOCIETY 

those  who  own  the  soil  they  till,  which,  he  said,  was  the 
prevalent  condition  of  the  cultivators  of  the  soil  in  the  non- 
slaveholding  states  of  this  country,  especially  those  of  New 
England.     He  then  said  • 

I  cannot  but  express  my  conviction  that  this  condition  is 
the  most  favorable  to  the  prosperity  of  the  state  and  the 
happiness  of  the  individual.  It  will  immediately  be  per- 
ceived that  it  is  not  inconsistent  with  the  possession  of  some 
very  ample  landed  estates  by  individuals.  In  a  country 
like  ours,  where  every  man's  capacity,  industry  and  good 
fortune  are  left  free  to  work  their  way  without  prejudice,  as 
far  as  possible,  there  will  be  among  the  agricultural  as  well 
as  among  the  commercial  population,  fortunes  of  all  sizes, 
from  that  of  the  man  who  owns  his  thousand  acres,  his 
droves  of  cattle,  his  flocks  of  sheep,  his  range  of  pastures, 
his  broad  fields  of  mowing,  and  tillage,  down  to  the  poor 
cottager  who  can  scarce  keep  his  cow  over  winter.  There 
will  always  be,  in  a  population  like  ours,  opportunities 
enough  for  those  who  cannot  own  a  farm,  to  hire  one,  and 
for  those  who  cannot  hire  one,  to  labor  in  the  employment 
of  their  neighbors  who  need  their  services.  And  when  we 
maintain  that  it  is  for  the  welfare  of  society  that  the  land 
should  be  cultivated  by  an  independent  yeomanry,  who  own 
the  soil  they  till,  we  mean  only  that  this  should  be  the  gen- 
eral state  or  condition  of  things ;  not  that  there  should  be 
no  such  thing  as  a  wealthy  proprietor,  whose  lands  in  whole 
or  in  part  are  cultivated  by  a  tenant,  no  such  thing  as  a  pru- 
dent husbandman  taking  a  farm  on  a  lease,  or  an  industri- 
ous young  man,  without  any  capital  but  his  hands,  laboring 
in  the  employment  of  his  neighbor.  These  are  parts  of  the 
system  as  it  exists  among  us  ;  and  we  maintain  that  it  is  a 
better  system  than  the  division  of  the  country  into  a  few 
vast  domains,  cultivated  by  a  dependent  tenantry,  to  the  al- 
most total  exclBision  of  the  class  of  small,  independent 
farmers. 

Am  I  asked,  why  it  is  better?  This  is  a  question  not 
easy  to  bring  down  to  a  dry  argument.  It  involves  political 
and  moral  considerations ;  it  trenches  upon  the  province  of 
the  feelings  ;  it  concerns  the  whole  character  of  a  people. 
In  a  pecuniary  point  of  view  it  is,  of  course,  not  maintained, 
that,  because  it  is  desirable  that  the  cultivator  of  the  soil 
should  own  a  farm,  it  is  therefore  expedient  in  all  cases  that 
he  should  attempt  to  purchase  one.     It  cannot  be  assumed, 


FOR  PROMOTING  AGRICULTURE.  .95 

as  a  general  rule,  that  it  is  better  for  a  young  man  to  buy  a 
farm  than  to  hire  one,  supposing  him  to  have  no  more  cap- 
ital than   is  necessary    to   stock   his   farm   and   purchase 
implements  of  husbandry.     But  supposing    that    he  is  so 
circumstanced,  that,  besides  stocking  his  farm,  he  can   do 
something  towards  purchasing  it  at  the  outset,  with  a  rea- 
sonable expectation  that  in  the  course  of  time,  with  industry 
and  frugality  and  temperance,  he  can  make  it  his  own,  then 
it  is  better  that  he  should  purchase  tlian  hire.     The  owner 
makes  improvements  with  zeal  and   spirit,   for  he  makes 
them  in  the  assurance  that  he  or  his  children  will  reap  the 
benefit  of  them ;  and  every  liew  improvement  furnishes  a 
new  stimulus  to  those  efforts  which  are  necessary  to  pay  off 
the  debt.     But  no  person  takes  genuine  pleasure  in  improv- 
ing another  man's  property.     It  is  the  interest  of  the  tenant 
to  get  as  much  out  of  the  soil  as  he  can,  and  give  as  little  as 
he  can  back  to  it.     When  he  has  exhausted  one  farm  he 
can  take  another.     Thus,  the  land,  as  far  as  it  is  cultivated 
in  this  way,  is  undergoing  a  gradual  decay ;  but  not  more 
surely  than  the  generous  principle  in  the  heart  of  him  who 
thus  occupies  it,  who  is  perpetually,  though  perhaps  uncon- 
sciously, under  the  influence  of  his  interest,  engaged  in  .de- 
teriorating  his  neighbor's  property.     The  owner  is  under 
precisely  the  opposite  influence.     He  strives  to  render  back 
to  the  land  as  much  as  possible,  in  return  for  what  he  takes 
from  it ;  for  he  feels  that  he  is  making  it  the  depository  of 
all  that  his  youth  and  manhood  can  lay  up  for  the  decline  of 
life,  for  his  family  and  his  children. 

Whatever,  in  this  way,  is  true  of  the  young  farmer  who 
lias  purchased  his  farm  on  credit,  is  still  more  applicable  to 
him,  who,  happily,  begins  life  the  proprietor  of  the  soil 
which  he  cultivates.  It  is  particularly  in  reference  to  him 
that  the  subject  presents  itself  in  other  relations  than  those 
of  pecuniary  calculation,  and  assumes  an  aspect,  not  merely 
of  an  economical,  but  also  of  a  political  question.  In  gen- 
eral, the  inquiry  how  the  land  is  cultivated  derives  grreat 
consequence  from  its  connection  with  the  political  condition 
of  the  cultivators,  A  very  considerable  portion  of  the  po- 
litical power  of  every  country  must  be  vested  in  the  land- 
holders ;  for  they  hold  a  large  part  of  the  property  of  the 
country.  Tliey  do  so  even  in  England,  where  there  is  such 
a  vast  amount  of  commercial  and  manufacturing  wealth. 
Although  the  land  is,  to  a  considerable  degree,  in  England 
monopolized  by  rich  proprietors,  yet  attempts  have  been 


96  THE   MASSACHUSETTS   SOCIETY 

made,  and  with  success,  to  give  political  privileges  and 
consequence  to  the  tenantry.  Still,  however,  the  greatest 
land-holder  in  most  counties  is  generally  able  to  carry  the 
elections  as  he  pleases. 

There  is  no  way  in  which  a  calm,  orderly  and  intelligent 
exercise  and  control  of  political  power  can  be  assured  to 
the  people  but  by  a  distribution  among  them,  as  equally  as 
possible,  of  the  property  of  the  country  ;  and  I  know  of  no 
manner  in  which  such  a  distribution  can  be  permanently 
and  peacefully  effected  but  by  keeping  the  land  in  small 
farms,  suitable  to  be  cultivated  by  their  owners.  Under 
such  a  system,  and  under  no  other,  the  people  will  exercise 
their  rights  with  independence.  The  assumption  of  a  right 
to  dictate  will  be  frowned  upon,  if  attempted ;  and  even  the 
small  portion  of  the  population  who  may  be  tenants  will 
possess  the  spirit  and  freedom  of  the  proprietors. 

But  I  own  that  it  is  not  even  on  political  grounds  that  I 
think  our  system  of  independent  rural  freeholders  is  most 
strongly  entitled  to  preference.  Its  moral  aspects,  its  con- 
nection with  the  character  and  the  feelings  of  the  yeomanry, 
give  it,  after  all,  its  greatest  value.  The  man  who  stands 
upon  his  own  soil,  who  feels  that  by  the  law  of  the  land  in 
which  he  lives,  by  the  law  of  civilized  nations,  he  is  the 
rightful  and  exclusive  owner  of  the  land  which  he  tills,  is, 
by  the  constitution  of  our  nature,  under  a  wholesome  influ- 
ence, not  easily  imbibed  from  any  other  source.  He  feels, 
other  things  being  equal,  more  strongly  than  another,  the 
character  of  man  as  the  lord  of  the  inanimate  world.  Of 
this  great  and  wonderful  sphere,  which,  fashioned  by  the 
hand  of  God,  and  upheld  by  his  power,  is  rolling  through 
the  heavens,  a  portion  is  his  —  his,  from  the  centre  to  the 
sky.  It  is  the  space  on  which  the  generations  before  him 
moved  in  their  round  of  duties ;  and  he  feels  himself  con- 
nected, by  a  visible  link,  with  those  who  preceded  him,  as  he 
is  also  with  those  who  will  follow  him,  and  to  whom  he  is 
to  transmit  a  home.  Perhaps  his  farm  has  come  down 
from  his  fathers.  They  have  gone  to  their  last  home  ;  but 
he  can  trace  their  footsteps  in  the  daily  scene  of  his  labors. 
The  roof  which  shelters  hira  was  reared  by  those  to  whom  he 
owes  his  being.  Some  interesting  domestic  tradition  is 
connected  with  every  enclosure.  The  favorite  fruit  tree 
was  planted  by  his  father's  hand.  He  sported  in  his  boy- 
hood by  the  side  of  the  brook  which  still  winds  through  his 
meadow.     Through  that  field  lies  the  path  to  the  village 


FOR   PUOMOTING   AGRICULTURE.  97 

school  of  his  earliest  days.  He  still  hears  from  his  windovr 
the  voice  of  the  Sabbath  bell,  which  called  his  fathers,  and 
his  forefathers,  to  the  house  of  God  ;  and,  near  at  liand,  is 
the  spot  where  he  laid  his  parents  down  to  rest,  and  where, 
he  trusts,  when  his  hour  is  come,  he  shall  be  dutilMlly  laid 
by  his  children.  These  are  the  feelings  of  the  owner  of  the 
soil.  Words  cannot  paint  them;  gold  cannot  buy  them; 
they  flow  out  of  the  deepest  fountains  of  the  heart;  they  are 
the  life-spring  of  a  fresh,  healthy,  generous,  national  char- 
acter. The  history  and  experience  of  the  world  illustrate 
their  power.  Who  ever  heard  of  an  enlightened  race  of 
serfs,  slaves  or  vassals  ?  How  can  we  wonder  at  the  forms 
of  government  which  prevail  in  Europe,  with  such  a  system 
of  monopoly  in  the  land  as  there  exists  ?  Nothing  but  this 
explains  our  own  history,  clears  up  the  mystery  of  the  rev- 
olution, and  makes  us  fully  comprehend  the  secret  of  our 
own  strength.  Austria  or  France  must  fall,  when  Vienna 
or  Paris  is  seized  by  a  powerful  army.  But  what  was  the 
loss  of  Boston  or  New  York  in  the  revolutionary  war  to  the 
people  of  New  England  ?  The  moment  the  enemy  set  his 
foot  in  the  country  he  was  like  a  hunter  going  to  the  thicket 
to  rob  th^  tigress  of  her  young.  The  officers  and  soldiers 
of  the  revolution  were  farmers  and  the  sous  of  farmers,  who 
owned  the  soil  for  which  they  fought ;  and  many  of  them, 
like  the  veteran  Putnam,  literally  left  their  ploughs  in  the 
furrow  to  hasten  to  the  field  of  battle. 

After  depicting  the  felicity,  social  and  political,  of  the 
agricultural  population  of  New  England,  the  orator  closed 
with  the  now  familiar  lines  of  the  poet : 

What  constitutes  a  state  ? 

The  publication  of  the  society's  Journal  as  a  serial  ceased 
in  1827.  The  occasion  of  it  was  that  other  publications 
had  appeared  in  newspaper  form,  containing  the  latest  in- 
formation, with  competent  discussion,  upon  agricultural 
matters.  The  principal  of  these,  at  that  time,  was  the  New- 
England  Farmer,  which  was  started  in  the  year  1822.  In 
1823  the  trustees  of  the  society  bestowed  upon  it,  by  a  for- 
mal vote,  a  cordial  recommendation  to  the  patronage  of 
the  public.  It  was  issued  weekly  and  reached  its  farmer 
subscribers  more  promptly  than  could  the  society,  with  its 


"98  THE   MASSACHUSETTS   SOCIETY 

semi-annual  issue.  It  was  welcomed,  therefore,  as  a  valuable 
auxiliary  in  the  society's  work,  and  intimate  relations  with 
it  were  established,  so  that  it  became  virtually,  the  organ 
of  the  society.  Its  founder  and  editor,  Thomas  Green 
Fessenden,  was  a  man  well  qualified,  by  education  and  in- 
terest in  the  cause  of  agriculture,  to  conduct  it.  The  degree 
of  that  intimacy  and  the  appreciation,  by  the  trustees,  of 
Mr.  Fessenden's  services  and  abilities,  are  indicated  by.  a 
TOte  of  the  board  passed  soon  after  his  decease  in  1837, 
placing  ilOO  at  the  disposal  of  a  committee  to  erect,  at  his 
grave,  a  monument.  A  marble  shaft  at  Mount  Auburn 
bears  his  name  and  perpetuates  his  memory. 

Two  volumes  of  the  Journal  were  published  beyond  the 
date  of  the  regular  succession,  one  in  1830  and  one  in  1832, 
making  ten  volumes  in  all,  as  put  into  permanent  binding. 
In  the  final  issue  the  editor  reverted  to  the  early  experien- 
ces of  the  trustees  in  publication,  and  the  difficulty,  then 
found,  in  obtaining  original  contributions.  He  e-xpressed 
opinion  that  the  Journal  had  had  an  educative  influence  in 
arousing  the  curiosity  and  exciting  the  intellectual  powers 
of  the  agricultural  population,  and  recognized,  in  the  exist- 
ing circumstances,  cause  for  congratulation.  "At  the  present 
moment,"  he  said,  "  three  or  four  agricultural  newspapers 
are  fully  supplied  with  original  matter,  and,  what  is  most 
encouraging,  far  the  greater  mass  of  articles  are  from  the 
pens  of  real  cultivators."  These  ten  volumes  have  an 
average  of  about  400  pages.  The  collection  as  a  whole  is  a 
testimonial  of  the  diligence  and  zeal  of  a  service  to  the 
public,  in  the  doing  of  which  no  applause  was  expected  and 
but  little  was  bestowed,  and  wherein  the  pecuniary  outgo 
was  much  and  the  incoma  small ;  and  it  is  also  a  memorial 
or  record  of  permanent  value,  as  relating  to  the  agricultural 
progress  of  the  period  which  it  covers.  In  thus  finally  re- 
ferring to  it,  two  matters  may  be  noticed  which  did  not 
seem  to  be  pertinent  at  any  point  in  the  text  as  hitherto 
written,  and  which  have  both  an  historical  and  an  intrinsic, 
that  is  to  say,  readable,  interest. 


FOR   PROMOTING  AGRICULTURE.  \f\f 

The  first  throws  light  upon  the  relative  progress  in 
invention,  in  the  line  of  agricultural  utility,  in  this  country 
and  in  England,  and  is  contained  in  a  communication  from 
€ol.  Timothy  Pickering,  published  in  the  Journal  in  1820. 
The  subject  was  the  comparative  value  of  the  labor  of  oxen 
€ind  of  horses,  in  farming  operations.  The  writer  expressed 
preference  for  the  former,  and,  while  recognizing  the  fact 
that  horses  were  generally  preferred  in  England,  quoted  a 
remark  contained  in  a  then  recent  discussion  of  the  subject 
by  Sir  John  Sinclair,  president  of  the  British  Board  of 
Agriculture.  The  remark  was:  ''The  principal  objection 
to  the  use  of  oxen  is  the  difficulty  of  shoeing  them.^'  Upon 
this  the  writer  of  the  communication  says :  ''The  facile  mode 
of  shoeing  oxen  in  New  England  would  remove  that  objec- 
tion, and  I  take  the  liberty  of  suggesting  the  propriety  of 
the  trustees  of  our  State  society  of  agriculture,  communi- 
cating to  Sir  John  a  drawing  and  description  of  our  simple 
frame  and  apparatus  for  shoeing  oxen,  for  the  information 
of  British  agriculturists,  to  whom  we  are  so  much  indebted 
for  instruction  and  examples  in  the  most  approved  prac- 
tices in  husbandry." 

The  final  volume  of  1832  contained  an  article  by  John 
Lowell,  who  had  been  a  trustee  of  the  society  from  1806, 
and  its  president  from  1823  to  1828,  the  subject  being  the 
cultivation  of  live  hedges.  In  it  the  statement  is  inciden- 
tally made  that  the  Virginia  thorn,  which  had  been  used  by 
Mr.  Quincy  for  setting  his  long  hedge  in  1808,  had  proved 
unsatisfactory  in  general,  because  of  the  ravages  of  a  worm 
or  borer  at  its  root.  Mr.  Lowell  says  :  ''  We  are  indebted 
wholly  and  entirely  to  the  experiments  of  Ezekiel  Hersey 
Derby,  Esq,,  for  the  possession  of  a  plant,  the  buckthorn 
(rhamnus  atharticus^  which,  from  ten  years  trial,  seems  to 
afford  every  desirable  quality  for  a  healthy,  beautiful  and 
efi'ectual  hedge.  I  can  only  say,  and  I  feel  it  a  duty  to  say, 
that  I  have  tried  this  plant  for  six  years.  It  is  hardy,  rapid 
in  its  growth,  of  impenetrable  thickness,  and,  so  far  as  the 
extent  of  the  experiment  enables  me  to  judge,  not  subject 


100  THE  MASSACHUSETTS    SOCIETY 

to  any  disease  or  visitation  of  any  insect  whatever."  It 
may  be  added  as  more  closely  identifying  with  the  society 
the  introduction  of  the  buckthorn  hedge  that  Mr.  Derby  ^ 
whose  estate  was  in  Salem,  was  a  member  of  the  society 
from  an  early  date,  and  one  of  its  trustees  from  1816^ 
through  a  period  of  years. 

The  relinquishment,  in  1830,  by  the  society  of  all  control 
and  responsibility  in  the  Botanical  Garden  at  Cambridge  ; 
the  cessation  of  the  Journal  in  1832,  and  of  the  cattle 
shows  in  1835,  had  effect  in  directing  the  society's  expen- 
ditures into  different  channels ;  not  to  any  important  ex- 
tent into  new  channels,  but  producing  a  more  copious  flow 
in  those  already  existing. 

An  official  printed  statement  relating  to  the  year  1835  y 


"The  invested  funds  and  cash  of  the  society  amounted  at 
this  time  to  f  12,914.  There  had  been  no  increase  of  them 
for  many  years,  the  income  of  the  society,  as  well  as  a  part 
of  the  donations  to  it,  having  been  applied  to  premiums  of 
various  kinds,  and  very  largely  to  the  Botanic  Garden.  It 
was  thought  by  many,  that  it  was  now  time  to  attempt  a  new 
field  of  usefulness,  by  a  systematic  introduction  of  improved 
breeds  of  cattle.  To  do  this,  it  required  large  outlays  in 
the  purchase  and  importation,  as  well  as  a  continuous  ex- 
pense  in  the  proper  care  of  the  stock  after  its  arrival ;  con- 
sequently, for  several  years  successively,  the  amount  paid 
out  in  premiums  was  sensibly  reduced,  and  a  portion  of  the 
society's  income  was  reserved  and  invested,  with  the  view 
to  more  efficient  action  hereafter." 

The  society,  at  an  early  date  already  named,  had  entered 
upon  the  practice  thus  suggested,  and  by  its  own  importa- 
tions, and  otherwise,  had  given  it  encouragement.  Its  ac- 
tion in  this  particular,  whether  direct  or  indirect,  was 
equally  in  furtherance  of  its  mission,  the  promoting  of  ag- 
riculture. Its  indirect  influence  was  exerted  chiefly  in  two 
ways,  the  publication  of  editorial  or  communicated  articles 
in  advocacy  of  improved  breeding,  and  the  award  of  premi- 
ums to  individuals,  who,  at  their  own  cost  and  trouble,  had 


FOR  PROMOTING   AGRICULTURE.  101 

made  desirable  importations.  During  the  period  of  the  cat- 
tle shows,  such  animals,  as  well  as  others  imported  by  the 
society  or  coming  to  it  by  gift,  made  a  part  of  the  attraction 
of  the  Brighton  annual  festival. 

An  importation  by  the  society,  in  1816,  of  three  Alderney 
cattle  has  been  mentioned.  The  next  of  record  is  an  im- 
portation of  a  bull  and  two  cows  from  Flanders,  in  1817, 
by  Israel  Thorndike  of  Boston.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
society  from  the  year  1792,  and  its  vice  president  from  1823 
to  1829.  He  made  a  gift  to  the  society,  in  1818,  of  the  bull 
and  one  of  the  cows.  The  animals  were  of  much  celebrity, 
and  their  progeny,  as  they  appeared  from  time  to  time  at 
the  cattle  shows,  won  great  admiration.  A  bull  of  the 
Teeswater  breed,  of  reputation  in  England  at  the  time,  was 
imported  by  a  member  of  the  society  in  1818.  It  was  also 
known  as  the  "  short-horn "  breed.  In  the  same  year 
Charles  Thorndike,  a  son  of  the  above  mentioned  Mr. 
Thorndike,  imported  a  bull  and  two  cows  from  Portugal. 
In  1819  Gorham  Parsons,  a  trustee,  and  Cornelius  Coolidge, 
a  member  of  the  society,  each  made  importations  of  cattle 
of  the  Holderness  breed.  In  1820  was  made  the  first  of  a 
succession  of  gifts  to  the  society  from  two  English  gentle- 
men, who  were  brothers.  Sir  Isaac  Coffin  and  Gen.  John 
Coffin.  The  former  held  rank  as  an  admiral  in  the  British 
navy.  At  the  time  of  making  these  gifts,  Gen.  Coffin  was 
residing  in  New  Brunswick.  Their  interest  in  the  society 
was  derived  from  the  fact  that  they  were  both  of  Massachu- 
setts, having  been  born  in  Boston.  Both  were  in  the  royal 
service  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  and  in 
that  contest  abided  by  the  fortunes  of  the  British  flag. 
Neither  the  experiences  nor  the  results  of  the  war  had  effect 
to  eradicate  their  regard  for  their  ancestral  home,  a  feeling 
to  which,  as  will  appear  in  the  record,  they  bore  testimony 
in  a  very  practical  way. 

In  1820  General  Coffin  presented  the  society  with  a  stal- 
lion of  the  breed  called  in  England,  the  "  light  cart  "  or 
^*  Suffolk  Punch"  breed.     It  was  a  superior  animal  in  ap- 


102  THE   MASSACHUSETTS  SOCIETY 

pearance  as  well  as  in  strength,  and  was  named  Columbus, 
The  trustees  had  a  portrait  of  the  animal  painted,  and  it 
was  engraved  for  publication  in  the  Journal.  In  1823^ 
Admiral  Coffin  presented  the  society  with  a  short-horn  bull 
of  English  breeding,  and  in  the  following  year,  a  bull  and 
heifer  of  the  Hereford  breed  and  also  a  short  horn-heifer, 
with  due  certificates  of  pedigree.  The  short-horn  bull  wa& 
named  "•  Admiral,"  and  was  successively  placed  in  difier- 
ent  counties  of  the  State,  usually  in  charge  of  some  ofi&cer 
or  member  of  one  of  the  county  agricultural  societies. 
This  was  conformable  to  the  general  practice  of  the  society^ 
both  prior  and  subsequently.  In  1825  Admiral  Coffin  gave 
the  society  a  stallion  and  mare  of  the  breed  known  as  the 
Yorkshire  Cleveland  Bays,  much  favored  in  England  as 
road  horses.  In  1827  General  Coffin  bestowed  the  gift  of 
four  rams  and  three  ewes  of  the  Devonshire  Nott  breed. 
One  pair  of  these  was  sent  to  the  Worcester  county  society, 
and  one  pair  to  the  Hampshire  county  society. 

These  various  donations  became  the  occasion  of  a  very 
interesting  episode  in  the  proceedings  at  the  Brighton  cattle 
show  in  1827,  in  the  course  of  an  address  made  by  the 
president  of  the  society  at  that  time,  Hon.  John  Lowell, 
preliminary  to  announcing  the  premiums.  General  Coffin 
was  present,  as  a  guest  of  the  day.  President  Lowell,  hav- 
ing in  his  remarks  led  up  to  an  enumeration  of  the  various 
gifts  which  had  thus  been  received  by^the  society,  said,  with 
special  reference  to  the  latest  gift  of  the  sheep : 

General  Coffin,  not  content  with  purchasing  them,  has,  at 
an  age  above  three  score  years  and  ten,  followed  them 
through  their  long  passage  to  New  Brunswick,  and  thence, 
without  delay,  from  Eastport  to  Boston,  in  order  that  they 
might  grace  the  show  of  the  society  on  this  anniversary. 
He  is  now  present  at  our  festival.  There  is  no  feeling 
stronger  than  that  of  an  attachment  to  the  country  in 
which  we  are  born.  Time  and  distance  have  no  efiect,  un- 
less it  be  in  making  the  feeling  more  intense.  I  know  of 
no  case  more  touching,  none  in  which  the  strength  of  that 
natural  feeling  has  been  more  strongly  exemplified  than  in 
that  of  these  two  brothers,  who,  separated  from  their  coun- 


FOR  PROMOTING  AGRICULTURE.  103 

try  in  youth,  engaged  in  the  service  of  a  nation  now  foreign 
to  us,  look  back  with  a  kind,  affectionate  and  devoted  at- 
tachment to  the  land  of  their  birth.  This  family,  as  is 
probably  well  known  to  you  all,  were  among  the  earliest 
settlers  of  Nantucket,  an  island  which  has  done  more  than 
any  other  spot  to  raise  the  reputation  of  our  nation  for 
hardy  enterprise  and  unblemished  morals.  Shall  I  receive 
a  single  dissentient  vote,  when  I  propose  the  thanks  of  this 
assembled  body  of  full-blooded  Yankees  to  General  Coffin 
and  his  brother.  Admiral  Sir  Isaac  Coffin?  * 

The  vote  was  carried  unanimously  by  a  show  of  hands. 
At  an  earlier  date  the  society  had  signified  its  appreciation 
of  these  generous  gifts,  in  bestowing  its  gold  medal  upon 
each  of  these  benefactors,  and  by  electing  them  as  honorary 
members. 

In  1821  the  trustees  ordered  an  importation  of  two  pairs 
of  the  breed  of  Leicester  sheep.  In  the  same  year  an  im- 
ported bull  was  presented  to  the  society  by  John  Hubbard 
of  Boston.  In  1822  an  Arabian  ram,  of  the  long-wooled 
breed,  was  presented  by  D.  L.  Pickman  of  Salem.  In  182S 
three  sheep  from  the  province  of  Astrachan,  in  Russia,  a 
breed  remarkable  for  their  excellence  as  mutton,  were  re- 

*The  brothers,  John  and  Isaac  Coffin,  were  sons  of  Nathaniel  Coffin,  who, 
towards  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  was  a  merchant  in  Boston,  and  for 
a  time,  was  the  king's  cashier  of  customs.  His  residence  was  at  the  wester- 
ly corner  of  Essex  street  and  Rainsford's  lane.  The  lane,  much  widened, 
is  how  known  as  Harrison  avenue.  The  houselot  and  garden  extended 
southerly  to  the  shore,  the  line  of  which  is  denoted  by  the  present  Beach 
street,  and  the  waters  of  South  Cove  washed  against  the  garden  wall  of  the 
estate.  The  mansion  house,  which  stood  near  Essex  street,  was  the  birth 
place  of  John  and  Isaac ;  and  it  may  be  surmised  that  their  fondness,  or,, 
certainly,  fearlessness  of  the  sea,  traceable  in  part  to  a  Nantucket  ancestry, 

fained  something  from  this  proximity  of  the  tide  water  to  the  garden  wall, 
t  may  be  suspected  that  cautious  youthful  voyages  were  made  in  some 
frail  canoe  along  the  shore  now  marked,  in  a  general  way,  by  Harrison 
avenue,  with  occasional  bolder  ventures  across  the  cove  to  the  shore  of 
Dorchester  Heiglits,  now  First  street.  South  Boston. 

John  Coffin  was  born  in  1751,  and  died  in  New  Brunswick,  in  1838.  In 
early  manhood  he  entered  the  British  army  and  was  with  the  body  of  troops 
that  fought  at  Bunker  Hill.  As  a  captain  and  major  he  made  a  military 
reputation  in  campaigns  in  the  southern  colonies  during  the  war.  He  con- 
tinued in  the  service  and  became  a  colonel  in  1797  ;  major  general,  in  1803; 
lieutenant  general,  in  1809;  and  general,  in  1819.  After  retiring  from  the 
army  he  was  a  member  of  the  legislative  assembly  of  New  Brunswick. 

Isaac  Coffin  was  born  in  1759,  and  died  in  Cheltenham,  Eng.,  in  1839. 
He  entered  the  British  navy  as  a  midshipman,  in  1773,  and  had  a  long  and 
varied  experience  in  the  service,  including  several  naval  encounters  in  the 
war  of  the  Revolution.  He  became  a  lieutenant  in  1778;  commander,  in 
1789;  rear  admiral,  in  1804;  vice  admiral,  in  1808;  admiral,  in  1814.  In  1804 
he  was  made  a  baronet  and  was  a  member  of  parliament  in  1818  and  182C. 


104  THE  MASSACHUSETTS   SOCIETY 

ceived  by  gift  from  Francis  Peabody  of  Salem.  An  im- 
portation of  a  bull  and  three  cows  of  the  Ayrshire  breed 
was  made  by  the  trustees  in  1835,  at  a  cost  of  |1,170.  Two 
instances  of  bringing  swine  from  foreign  lands  appear  in 
the  record  of  these  early  years,  one  in  1818,  and  one  in 
1823.  It  may  be  noted  as  evidence  of  the  importance  in 
which  these  undertakings  were  held  by  the  trustees,  that, 
in  several  instances  during  the  period  thus  referred  to, 
medals  were  voted  by  the  trustees  to  shipmasters  who  had 
bestowed  special  care  upon  the  animals  during  the  voyage. 

An  important  share  of  the  society's  bounty  continued  to 
be  offered,  each  year,  after  the  suspension  of  its  cattle  shows, 
in  premiums  for  the  best  cultivated  farm,  for  the  largest 
crop  per  acre  of  certain  vegetables,  for  the  cultivation  of 
forest  and  other  trees,  for  useful  inventions,  etc.  It  also 
contributed  each  year  to  the  total  of  premiums  offered  by 
certain  of  the  county  agricultural  societies,  presumably 
those  whose  pecuniary  resources  were  least,  or  those  where 
certain  lines  of  agriculture,  deemed  specially  desirable, 
were  pursued,  either  because  of  the  enterprise  of  the  farm- 
ing population  or  favorable  situation.  Such  premiums  were 
usually,  if  not  invariably,  in  whatever  county  offered,  open 
to  competitors  from  all  other  counties.  The  total  of  premi- 
ums paid  in  the  year  1888  was  f  900,  and  in  eacli  year  up  to 
1842,  several  hundred  dollars.  The  state  of  things  as 
respects  the  use  of  the  plough,  at  this  period,  is  indicated  in 
the  fact  that,  in  1837,  a  premium  of  $30  was  offered  to  any 
mechanic  "  to  construct  and  introduce,  for  the  use  of  farm- 
ers, a  sub-soil  plough."  In  1840,  as  prevfously  intimated, 
it  had  become  well  understood  that  the  ideal  of  a  plough 
for  ordinary  use  had  not  been  fully  attained  in  the  manu- 
facture of  that  instrument  on  the  Jeffersonian  lines,  with 
the  early  New  York  improvements.  Accordingly,  the 
society  offered  these  premiums  :  "  For  the  best  plough  that 
will  turn  the  sod  over  and  lay  it  flat,  regard  being  had  for 
excellence  of  work,  ease  of  draught,  cheapness,  etc.,  ^SilOO  ; 


FOK   PROMOTING   AGRICULTURE.  105 

for  the  best  plough  tliat  shall  lay  the  sod  on  edge  or 
obliquely,  regard  being  had  to  like  qualities,  '*|75."  A 
trial,  or  competition  in  the  field,  was  had  at  Worcester  on 
Oct.  13,  1840,  and  the  award  of  the  larger  premium  was  to 
Prouty  <fe  Mears,  and  the  smaller  to  Charles  Howard. 

In  1836  the  trustees  appeared  before  a  committee  of  the 
Legislature  and  testified,  personally,  in  approbation  of 
pending  legislation  for  the  appointment  of  an  agent  to 
make  an  agricultural  survey  of  the  State.  The  project  was 
carried  through,  and  the  State  agent  appointed  was  Rev. 
Henry  Colman,  of  reputation  as  an  expert  in  agriculture. 
In  1839  Mr.  Colman  was  made  the  delegate  of  the  society 
to  attend  a  convention  of  silk  producers,  held  in  Washing- 
ton, D.  C,  his  expenses  being  paid  by  the  society.  In 
1842,  the  State  survey  being  completed,  Mr.  Colman  visited 
Europe  to  make  a  like  general  survey,  with  intention  to 
publish  a  volume  on  his  return,  embodying  his  observations 
and  conclusions.  The  society  subscribed  for  100  copies  in 
advance,  paying,  at  once,  in  the  proportion  agreed  upon  by 
individuals  who  had  entered  into  a  like  subscription.  In 
1839  the  total  of  premiums  paid  was  $1,190,  of  which  |400 
was  given  to  county  societies,  and  1450  for  the  best  culti- 
vated farms.  Of  the  remainder  a  part  was  a  premium  of 
$100,  awarded  to  the  Northampton  Beet  Sugar  Co.,  for  the 
production  of  the  greatest  quantity  and  best  quality  of 
sugar  from  the  sugar  beet. 

In  1842  the  society  reached  its  semi-centennial  date. 
The  record  of  the  period  upon  which  it  could  look  back  has 
here  been  indicated  with  sufficient  fullness  to  make  super- 
fluous any  commentary  or  encomium,  other  than  what  may 
be  contained  in  the  remark  that  the  labor  which  had 
been  performed  by  its  officers  had  been  arduous,  and 
the  harvest  sought  had  been  abundant.  Agriculture 
had  been  greatly  promoted,  in  Massachusetts,  by  its 
activities.  Many  names,  eminent  in  the  State  and  the 
nation,  had,  from  time  to  time,  been  added  to  its  roll  of  mem- 
bership.    Dr.  Aaron  Dexter,  who  was  the  president  at  the 


106  THE   MASSACHUSETTS    SOCIETY 

close  of  the  quarter  century,  in  1817,  was  succeeded  in 
office  in  1823  by  John  Lowell,  son  of  John  Lowell,  the 
charter  member  and  president  from  1796  to  1802.  In  1828 
Thomas  L.  Winthrop  became  the  president.  He  yet  held 
the  office  at  the  date  of  his  decease,  in  1840.  This  long- 
continued  service,  and  his  devotedness  in  it,  were  recog- 
nized in  suitable  obituary  resolutions,  which  are  contained 
in  both  the  written  and  printed  records  of  the  society.  His 
successor,  chosen  in  1811,  was  John  Welles,  a  resident  in 
Boston,  for  many  years,  having  a  large  farm  in  the  adjoin- 
ing town  of  Dorchester,  and  who  subsequently  carried  on 
still  more  extensive  agricultural  enterprises  in  that  part  of 
Natick,  which  now  commemorates  his  name,  the  town  of 
Wellesley. 

The  society's  second  half-century  begins  very  modestly 
in  the  business  record  with  a  gift,  in  1842,  of  |100  to  the 
agricultural  society  organized  for  the  three  counties  of 
Hampshire,  Hampden  and  Franklin,  and  a  like  sum  to  the 
Plymouth  county  society.  A  premium  was  offered  for  the 
best  model  of  a  farmer's  daybook,  by  which  was  meant  a 
blankbook,  ruled  and  arranged  with  printed  headlines,  for 
keeping  a  record  suitable  for  comparison  respecting  the 
planting,  growth  and  harvesting  of  crops  and  matters  per- 
taining to  stock,  the  dairy,  labor,  etc.  The  intent,  appar- 
ently, was  to  enable  the  farmer  to  judge  with  accuracy  as  to 
whether  he  was  gaining  or  losing,  improving  or  retrograd- 
ing, in  each  particular  department,  by  comparing,  under 
each  head,  one  year  with  another,  or  comparing  with  his 
neighbor  who  kept  a  book  classified  in  like  manner.  One 
competitor  appeared,  but  his  model  was  thought  to  be  too 
complicated,  as  it  required  the  keeping  of  four  books,  and 
no  award  was  made  at  this  time.  In  1843  premiums  of 
$2,800  of  a  general  character  were  offered,  certain  tracts 
were  printed,  and  8100  paid  for  premiums  awarded  by  the 
society  of  the  three  counties. 

At  the  trustees'  meeting  of  Dec.  14,  1844,  the  subject  of 


FOR   PIIOMOTIXG  AGRICULTURE.  107 

veterinary  education  was  considered.  Doubtless  it  had 
been  brought  forward  by  John  Collins  Warren,  M.  D.,  who 
had  within  a  few  years  become  a  member  of  the  board. 
At  any  rate,  lie  was  made  one  of  a  committee  to  inquire 
into  the  matter,  and,  altliough  the  report  subsequently 
made  bears  no  signature,  the  familiar  knowledge  manifested 
in  it  as  to  the  status  of  European  schools  of  anatomy  and 
surgery,  is  good  evidence  that  it  was  prepared  by  him. 
As  it  seems  to  mark  the  beginning  of  that  branch  of  prac- 
tical science,  not  only  in  this  state,  but  in  this  country,  and 
is  of  instructive  interest,  it  may  properly  be  given  in  full. 
The  report  was  submitted,  Jan.  11,  1845,  and  is  as  follows  r 

The  committee  appointed  to  consider  the  best  mode  of 
encouraging  veterinary  education  in  this  state  beg  leave  to 
report,  that,  on  inquiry,  they  find  that  the  diseases  and  ac- 
cidents to  which  domestic  animals  are  liable  are  but  little 
understood  among  us,  and  the  treatment  is  consequently 
empirical  and  often  pernicious.  The  importance  of  many 
animals  to  the  pursuits  of  agriculture  render  them  worthy 
of  the  most  careful  attention,  in  an  active  and  industrial 
community. 

We  find  that,  in  Europe,  schools  for  the  formation  of 
physicians  and  surgeons  for  treatment  of  the  diseases 
of  animals  have  been  everywhere  established.  In  Great 
Britain,  France  and  other  countries,  the  veterinary  physi- 
cian and  surgeon  stands  as  high  in  public  estimation  as  the 
regular  practitioners  of  the  healing  art.  In  some  of  the 
German  schools  it  is  made  a  part  of  the  duty  of  every  stu- 
dent in  medicine  to  attend  a  series  of  lectures  upon  this 
subject. 

No  such  establishments  exist  in  this  country,  and  the 
want  of  information  on  the  subject  is  truly  deplorable. 
Fine  animals  are  continually  sacrificed  to  the  ignorance  and 
prejudice  of  their  possessors.  The  trustees  of  this  society 
have  originated  and  diffused  many  important  and  difficult 
improvements  in  the  agriculture  of  this  part  of  the  country, 
and  it  seems  well  worthy  of  their  public  spirit  and  influence 
to  make  an  effort  to  introduce  a  better  practice  in  the  treat- 
ment of  the  injuries  of  animals. 

The  most  useful  mode  of  accomplishing  this  object  would 
be  by  the  foundation  of  a  veterinary  school,  but  as  the  funds 
of  the  society  would  not  enable  them  to  execute  so  large  a 


108  THE  MASSACHUSETTS   SOCIETY 

plan,  it  might,  perhaps,  be  more  judicious  to  give  en- 
couragement to  some  individual  to  go  abroad,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  instructing  himself  sufficiently  to  give  lectures,  and 
to  explain  the  best  known  modes  of  treatment.  The  com- 
mittee recommend  that  |600  be  appropriated  in  this  way,  a 
part  of  which  sum  might  be  paid  in  advance,  and  a  part 
after  the  proposed  lectures  had  been  given  in  a  manner  sat- 
isfactory to  the  trustees. 

What  was  thus  recommended  was  carried  into  effect  with 
this  variation  only,  that  an  arrangement  was  made  with 
Dr.  Edward  Brooks,  of  Boston,  who  was  already  a  resident 
and  student  of  medicine  and  surgery  in  Paris,  that  he 
should  devote  sufficient  time  to  veterinary  studies  to  qualify 
himself  to  give,  after  his  return,  a  course  of  lectures  as 
proposed.  In  the  following  year.  Dr.  Warren  was  author- 
ized to  procure  in  Paris,  for  the  society,  an  anatomical 
model  of  a  horse.  The  report  upon  this  bears  Dr.  Warren's 
signature,  and  the  essential  part  of  it  is  as  follows  : 

Your  committee  find  that  there  has  lately  been  completed 
in  Paris  the  figure  of  a  horse  of  full  size,  so  constructed 
that  all  its  pieces  may  be  taken  apart.  These  pieces  rep- 
resent the  muscles,  blood  vessels,  heart,  lungs  and  other 
organs  in  their  natural  size  and  appearance.  They  are 
composed  of  materials  of  an  imperishable  nature,  and  when 
put  together  form  a  beautiful  object.  The  committee,  be- 
lieving that  there  is  no  similar  work  in  this  country,  and 
that  this  will  be  of  great  use  in  displaying  to  practical  men 
the  anatomy  of  different  organs  which  may  be  the  seat  of 
disease,  have  thought  that  its  acquisition  would  be  a  benefit 
to  the  agricultural  interests  of  the  country,  and  have,  there- 
fore, procured  this  work  and  ordered  it  to  be  shipped.  The 
committee,  seeing  the  great  importance  of  the  bones  of  the 
ox  and  the  horse,  have  also  directed  the  preparation  of  full 
sized  skeletons  of  these  animals.  The  committee  propose, 
when  these  objects  have  all  arrived,  that  they  shall  be 
placed  together  in  some  convenient  situation,  and  be  made 
accessible  to  the  agriculturist,  without  expense. 

During  the  following  winter  Dr.  Warren  delivered  a  lec- 
ture upon  the  anatomy  of.  the  horse,  at  the  State  House,  be- 
fore the  Legislative  Agricultural  Society,  which  was  com- 
posed of  members  of  the  Legislature  then  in  session.     The 


FOR   PROMOTING   AGRICULTURE.  109 

lecture  was  a  public  one,  and  tlie  doctor  illustrated  his  re- 
marks by  means  of  the  dissected  image  of  a  horse,  which 
had  then  arrived  from  Paris.  This  anatomical  figure,  and 
the  two  skeletons,  were  made  available,  as  the  property  of 
the  society,  in  giving  instruction  during  many  years,  having 
been  kept  for  a  period  at  the  State  House,  in  the  rooms  of 
the  Board  of  Agriculture,  and  afterwards  at  the  State  Ag- 
ricultural College  at  Amherst.  They  were  finally  disposed 
of  by  the  trustees,  on  Jan.  10,  1890,  as  a  gift  to  Harvard 
University,  for  use  in  its  school  of  veterinary  science. 

In  1844  the  society's  land  in  Brighton  was  graded  for 
street  purposes,  and  sold  in  house  lots  by  auction,  yielding^ 
about  $6,000  to  the  treasury.  At  the  cattle  show  of  the 
Worcester  society,  the  Massachusetts  society  paid  out  this^ 
year  $1,032.40  in  premiums.  In  1845  a  full  set  of  the  so- 
ciety's publications  was  sent  to  the  Royal  Agricultural  So-^ 
ciety  of  England,  this  action  having  been  prompted  by  Ed- 
ward Everett,  then  in  that  country  ;  and  the  official  corre- 
spondence, in  the  matter,  passed  through  his  hands.  This 
year  the  trustees  ceased  to  offer  premiums  for  nearly  all 
the  purposes  hitherto  recognized,  the  feeling  being,  as  offic- 
ially stated,  that  the  measures  thus  taken  had,  for  the  time,, 
produced  the  desired  effect,  "  in  stimulating  farmers  to  a 
habit  of  investigation  and  accurate  noting  of  time,  manner 
and  circumstance  in  which  experiments  had  been  made, 
giving  thereby  exact  knowledge  whether  particular  experi- 
ments had  been  successful  or  not'' ;  and  it  was  decided  to 
apply  the  income  especially  to  the  introduction  of  improved 
breeds  of  dairy  stock. 

An  importation  was  authorized  of  a  bull  and  four  heifers- 
of  Ayrshire  stock,  and  a  like  number  of  Devon  stock,  with 
intention  of  maintaining  the  herds  separately,  under  the 
control  of  the  society,  that  animals  of  pure  blood  might,, 
with  certainty,  be  procurable  in  this  State.  This  was  the 
most  important  undertaking  of  the  kind,  that,  up  to  the  date, 
had  been  made  by  the  society,  and  there  appears  to  have- 
been  much   painstaking  by  all  concerned,  in   carrying  it 


110  THE  MASSACHUSETTS   SOCIETY 

through.  The  sum  of  12,000  was  voted  for  the  purpose. 
The  trustees  employed  as  the  agent  of  the  society,  Alexan- 
der Bickett  of  Andover,  a  Scotchman  by  birth,  and  an  ex- 
pert in  cattle  and  cattle  breeding.  He  visited  the  regions 
in  Great  Britain  where  Ayrshire  and  North  Devon  stock 
abound,  and  made  judicious  selections,  as  is  evinced  by  a 
letter  addressed  to  him  by  Henry  Codman,  one  of  the  com- 
mittee of  importation  and  treasurer  of  the  society,  in  ac- 
knowledgment of  the  fidelity  of  his  service.  The  two 
herds,  upon  arrival,  were  sent  to  the  farm,  in  Lexington, 
owned  by  Elias  Phinney,  the  recording  secretary  of  the  so- 
ciety. There  they  were  maintained  during  four  years  (or 
until  the  decease  of  Mr.  Phinney)  as  the  property  of  the 
society,  and  were  managed  according  to  the  strictness  of 
breeders'  rules,  the  surplus  being  sold  each  year  to  persons 
living  within  the  state.  In  1849  or  1850  those  which  had 
not  been  disposed  of  were  divided  in  a  manner  designed  to 
preserve  the  purity  of  each  breed.  The  principal  part  of 
the  Ayrshires  were  bought  by  Mr.  George  W.  Lyman,  then 
a  trustee  and  later  the  president  of  the  society,  and  in  his 
possession  they  became  a  stock  of  great  celebrity.  Others 
of  the  collection  were  distributed  by  gift  among  the  county 
societies  of  the  State  ;  that  is,  one  pair  of  Ayrshires,  or  one 
pair  of  Devons,  to  a  society,  thus  enabling  each  "  so  to  dis- 
pose of  the  animals  as  to  keep  the  breed  unmixed,  and  give 
character  to  the  stock  of  the  respective  counties." 

The  file  of  vouchers,  and  the  letters  written  by  the  soci- 
ety's agent  while  abroad,  permit  the  progress  of  the  enter- 
prise, from  its  inception  to  the  arrival  at  the  port  of  Boston, 
to  be  traced  in  detail.  The  Ayrshire  bull  purchased  was 
known  in  the  Scotch  herd  book  as  ""  Prince  Albert.'^  It 
had  been  bred  by  Andrew  McGregor  of  Doonholm,  but  at 
the  date  of  purchase  was  owned  by  another  cattle  breeder. 
The  four  Ayrshire  cows  were  bought  of  Mr.  McGregor,  who 
appended  to  his  bill  of  sale,  at  the  request  of  the  agent,  his 
opinion  of  the  bull  which  had  already  been  purchased  by 
the  agent.     It  was  that  Prince  Albert  was  "  one  of  the  best 


FOR   PROMOTING   AGRICULTURE.  Ill 

breeding  bulls  in  Ayrshire."  A  like  success  seems  to  have 
attended  the  agent  in  obtaining  the  Devon  bull.  This  he 
bought  of  John  Blomfield,  a  cattle  breeder  living  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  estate  of  the  earl  of  Leicester,  it  having 
been  originally  of  the  earl's  own  far-famed  stock.  The 
four  cows  were  bought  directly  from  the  earl's  own  herd. 
The  agent,  in  liis  letter,  after  giving  points  of  pedigree,  re- 
marks, incidentally  :  "  Lord  Leicester  has  directed  the  ar- 
tist who  is  to  carve  out  the  likeness  of  a  Devon  bull,  for  his 
father's  monument,  to  look  at  Mr.  Blom  field's  bull  (the  sire 
of  the  one  I  bought),  before  he  begins  his  work."  Such  a 
testimony,  considering  the  certainty,  under  breeding  regu- 
lations, of  identity  in  traits  and  features  in  the  purchased 
animal  and  its  sire,  would  seem  to  be  conclusive,  and  must 
have  silenced  even  the  hypercritical,  as  respects  the  merits 
of  the  society's  Devon  bull. 

It  may  be  remarked  that  this  reference  to  the  monu- 
ment of  the  deceased  earl  is  not  the  only  evidence  this 
file  of  papers  contains,  that,  in  the  estimation  of  Britain's 
nobility,  practical  agriculture  diminishes,  in  no  wise,  the 
lustre  of  the  family  escutcheon.  One  of  the  agent's 
vouchers  reads  thus  :  ''  Mr.  Bickett,  Dr.  to  the  Earl  of 
Leicester :  2  North  Devon  heifers,  28£  ;  2  North  Devon 
cows,  82£."  The  signature  following,  in  receipt  of  pay- 
ment, is  not  that  of  the  earl,  but  of  the  manager  of  his 
farm  ;  but  manifestly  there  was  no  disposition  to  disguise 
the  prosaic  mercantile  facts,  nor  apprehension  of  loss  of 
dignity  to  the  house  of  Leicester,  through  its  known  com- 
plicity in  the  cattle  traffic. 

The  events  occurring  between  1845  and  1850  are  few  in 
the  record.  In  1846  John  Chipman  Gray  became  the 
president,  in  place  of  John  Welles,  resigned,  and  Daniel 
Webster  was  chosen  as  the  first  vice  president.  In  1850 
Dr.  John  C.  Warren  was  chosen  second  vice  president, 
and  the  situation  remained  unchanged  until  the  decease 
of  the  former,  in  1852.  This  may  be  regarded  a  notable 
episode  in  the  society's  history,  in  that,  for  the  time  being, 
it  had  for  its  two  vice  presidents,  men  who,  confessedly 


M/  ^     * 


112  THE   MASSACHUSETTS    SOCIETY 

stood  preeminent  in  the  professions  to  which  they  respec- 
tively belonged.  In  1847  a  communication  was  received 
from  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society  of  France,*  asking  for 
any  information  in  the  possession  of  the  Massachusetts 
Society  as  to  the  phenomena  of,  and  the  remedy  for,  the 
prevalent  potato  disease.  An  expert  investigation  of  the 
disease  had  recently  been  made  under  the  direction  of  the 
trustees,  and  the  result  of  it  was  sent  to  Paris.  In  1849 
Dr.  Edward  Brooks  returned  from  Paris  and  delivered  the 
expected  course  of  public  lectures,  in  February,  at  the 
State  House.  In  1850  a  pair  of  North  Devon  cattle  was 
bought  and  presented  to  the  State's  reformatory  institu- 
tion, at  Westboro.  In  1851  occurred  the  decease  of  Dr. 
Brooks,  and  the  trustees  made  an  arrangement  with  Dr. 
D.  D.  Slade  to  give  a  course  of  public  lectures  on  veteri- 
nary science,  which  he  did  in  a  manner  to  meet  the  offi- 
cial approval  of  Dr.  Warren,  who  was  of  the  committee  of 
arrangements.  In  this  case,  as  in  that  of  the  preceding 
course,  $600  was  paid  to  the  lecturer  from  the  treasury  of 
the  society. 

In  1851  an  appropriation  of  |2,^0  having  been  made, 
the  treasurer  of  the  society,  -Honry "  Co anmiiT^ visited 
Europe  and  procured  a  bull  and  four  cows  of  the  Jersey^ 
or  Alderney,  breed  of  cattle.  These,  on  arrival,  were 
placed  in  charge  of  Mr.  Thomas  Motley,  one  of  the  trus- 
tees of  the  society,  at  his  farm  in  West  Roxbury.  In 
1852  the  society  made  one  more  effort  to  get  from  the 
State  of  Maine  the  half-township  of  land,  which,  through 
technicalities,  had  failed  to  come  into  its  possession  upon 
the  separation  of  the  district  of  Maine  from  the  State  of 
Massachusetts,  the  Legislature  of  which  had  made  the 
grant.  In  October  of  this  year  the  decease  of  Daniel 
Webster  took  place,  and  at  the  meeting  of  trustees  next 
ensuing,  the  following  resolution  was  adopted : 

Whereas,  it  has  pleased  Divine  Providence  to  remove 
by  death  our  late  distinguished  vice  president,  the  Hon. 
Daniel  Webster. 

Resolved,  That  while  the  trustees   of  this  society,  in 


FOR  PROMOTING  AGRICULTURE.  113 

eommon  with  their  fellow  citizens,  entertain  a  due  sense 
of  the  many  eminent  services  rendered  to  the  public  by 
Mr.  Webster  in  his  political  and  professional  capacity, 
they  feel  bound  more  particularly  to  speak  of  the  warm 
attachment  which  he  manifested,  throughout  his  life,  by 
word  and  by  example,  to  the  pursuit  of  agriculture ;  to 
bear  witness  to  his  comprehensive  views  of  its  general 
principles,  and  his  thorough  acquaintance  with  its  practi- 
cal details,  and  to  express  their  sense  of  his  loss  as  one  of 
the  ablest,  most  constant  and  most  distinguished  friends 
of  that  great  interest  in  our  own  or  in  any  country. 

The  year  1853  is  the  date  of  the  beginning  of  opera- 
tions by  the  State  Board  of  Agriculture,  which  was 
created  by  an  act  passed  in  the  preceding  year.  Thence- 
forth, the  formal  annual  report,  which,  since  1845,  had 
been  required  by  law  to  be  sent  to  the  secretary  of  the 
Commonwealth,  was  sent  to  the  Board  of  Agriculture. 
Intimate  relations  were  established  between  the  society 
and  the  board,  arising  in  part  from  the  circumstance  that 
one  member  of  the  board  is  regularly,  in  conformity  to 
the  act  of  1852,  chosen  by  the  society,  to  serve  for  a  term 
of  three  years. 

The  offer,  in  1855,  of  certain  premiums  may  be  said  to 
mark,  with  approximate  accuracy,  the  beginning  of  a  new 
era  in  one  department  of  practical  agriculture,  that  of 
hay-harvesting.  The  offer  was  intended  to  encourage  the 
general  use  of  the  mowing  machine,  and  the  official  report 
on  the  matter  shows  that  it  had  the  desired  effect.  One 
premium,  of  $600,  was  open  to  competition  that  year,  and 
the  other,  of  11,000,  was  seasonably  announced,  that  the 
competition  might  be  had  and  the  award  made  in  the  fol- 
lowing year.  The  premium  for  1855  was  *'  to  the  posses- 
sor of  the  mowing  machine  which  shall  cut,  during  the 
present  season,  with  the  greatest  economy  and  to  the  best 
advantage  not  less  than  fifty  acres  of  grass,  within  the 
State."  The  appeal  was  specifically  to  the  operators  of 
machines,  the  intent  of  the  trustees  being  "  to  bring  out 
skill  in  the  use  of  a  machine  comparatively  new,  without 


114  THE  MASSACHUSETTS   SOCIETY 

reference  to  the  particular  merits  of  the  several  kinds 
then  offered  to  the  public."  To  these  words  the  trustees 
add  that  "  they  felt  strong  hopes,  also,  that  so  large  a  pre- 
mium would  incite  many  to  try  the  experiment  of  mowing 
with  a  machine,  who  would  otherwise  wait  to  see  whether 
it  was  successful  or  not;  in  this  they  were  not  disap- 
pointed, the  number  of  competitors  having  been  large." 
The  phrases  thus  used,  "  a  machine  comparatively 
new,"  and,  "the  number  of  competitors  having  been  large/' 
permit  the  date  of  the  new  order  of  things  in  haymaking, 
in  this  State,  to  be  fixed  with  tolerable  precision  ;  for, 
when  the  record  is  referred  to,  it  appears  that  the  number 
competing  was  forty.  If  this,  after  the  special  incentive, 
suggested  in  the  words  just  quoted,  had  had  time  to  take 
effect,  could  be  deemed  a  large  number,  the  possessors  of 
mowing  machines  in  the  State  prior  to  1855,  by  fair  infer- 
ence, were  but  few.  The  condition  of  things  is,  in  a  cer- 
tain way,  indicated  in  the  statistics  given  in  the  report 
of  the  committee  of  award.  A  condition  named  was  that 
each  competitor  should  mow  a  measured  half-acre  in  the 
presence  of  the  society's  representative,  upon  a  day  ap- 
pointed by  him.  It  was  deemed  to  be  the  fairest  method 
that  one  member  of  the  committee  should  seethe  work- 
ing of  all  the  machines,  rather  than  that  the  supervision 
should  be  shared  ;  and  that  the  whole  committee  should 
make  the  award  upon  his  testimony,  aided  by  information 
derived  from  returns,  the  blanks  for  which  were  provided, 
and  were  to  be  filled  by  the  several  competitors.  The  re- 
turn of  these  filled  blanks  was  made  imperative,  else  the 
party  was  not  to  be  considered  in  making  up  the  award. 
In  consequence,  only  sixteen  competitors  had  to  be  taken 
into  account  in  making  the  award.  The  others,  with  one 
exception,  made  no  returns,  not  being  well  satisfied,  prob- 
ably, with  their  own  performance.  The  exception  was 
George  W.  Lyman,  the  recording  secretary  of  the  society, 
who  did  not  desire  the  award,  if  entitled  to  it,  but  wished 
the  committee  to  have  the  benefit  of  any  knowledge  de- 


FOR  PROMOTING  AGRICULTURE.  115 

livable  from  the  working  of  his  machine.  Amon^  the 
statistics  of  the  operation  of  the  seventeen  machines  are 
these  :  Fingers  broken  or  lost  (which,  in  this  case  means 
fingers  of  the  machines,  not  the  operators'),  93 ;  knives 
broken  or  lost,  18  ;  pins,  screws  and  bolts  broken  or  lost, 
17 ;  and  one  instance,  of  each  sort,  of  breaking  a  track- 
clearer,  a  pole,  an  axle,  an  iron  brace,  a  crank  and  a  cog- 
wheel. What  amount  of  wreckage  would  have  been 
disclosed,  had  the  records  of  the  entire  forty  machines 
been  sent  in,  can  only  be  conjectured  ;  but  what  is  given 
signifies  that  the  mowing  machine,  as  a  practical  farming 
implement,  had  just  begun  its  career,  and  that  skill  was 
lacking  in  the  makers,  and,  no  doubt,  the  operators  also. 

The  invention  appears  to  have  been  sufficiently  per- 
fected to  work  on  the  level,  alluvial  fields  of  the  West  a 
few  years  earlier  than  upon  the  irregular  land  surfaces  of 
New  England.  A  practical  working  machine  had  long 
been  sought  for.  Attempts  to  produce  such  are  recorded 
in  the  pages  of  history,  at  various  dates,  from  the  time  of 
the  Roman  Empire,  forward.  In  a  reference  to  tl^e  subject 
in  one  of  the  publications  of  the  society  it  is  remarked, 
that  the  colonial  legislature  of  Massachusetts  granted  a 
patent  for  a  mowing  machine.  In  trusting  to  his  memory 
the  writer  made  an  error,  but  it  was  a  very  natural  one ; 
for  the  patent  was  granted  for  a  *'  mowing  engine.'*  Al- 
though the  event  ante-dates  the  existence  of  the  society,  a 
mention  of  it  will  not  be  wholly  out  of  place  here,  since 
it  relates  directly  to  agriculture,  and  shows  that  inventive 
talent,  as  applicable  in  that  useful  art,  received  encourage- 
ment, in  Massachusetts,  almost  from  the  beginning.  The 
case  is  nearly  parallel  to  that  given  among  the  anecdotes 
of  Dr.  Franklin.  In  an  exigency  when  Philadelphia  was 
threatened  with  invasion,  more  ordnance  was  needed. 
Knowing  that  the  Quakers  of  that  city  would  not  con- 
tribute, directly,  for  the  procuring  of  war  material,  he 
suggested  to  them  that  a  fund,  already  accumulated  by 
them,  for  the  purchase  of  a  fire  engine,  might  be  applied 


!16  THE   MASSACHUSETTS    SOCIETY 

in  buying  a  cannon,  "  since  a  cannon  is  a  fire  engine.'^ 
The  doctor  did  no  violence  to  the  English  language,  nor 
"did  the  Massachusetts  General  Court  of  the  year  1655. 
The  following  was  their  enactment : 

May  23,  1655.  Itt  is  ordered  that  Joseph  Jencks,  sem., 
and  his  assignes,  only,  shall  haue  libertje  graunted  to  them 
to  make  that  engine  the  sajd  Jencks  hath  proposed  to  this 
Court  for  the  more  speedy  cutting  of  grasse,  for  seven 
yeares,  and  that  no  inhabitant  or  other  person  within  this 
jurisdiction  during  that  tjme  shall  make  or  vse  any  of 
that  kind  of  engine  without  license  first  obtajned  from  the 
sajd  Joseph  Jencks,  on  the  pcenalty  of  five  pounds  for 
euery  such  engine  so  made  or  vsed,  to  be  recouered  at 
any  Court  in  this  jvrisdiction  by  the  sajd  Joseph  Jencks, 
sen'.,  or  his  assignes. 

All  uncertainty  as  to  the  meaning  of  the  statute  is 
cleared  up  by  the  author  of  the  History  of  Lynn,  who 
states  that  Jenks  was  an  inhabitant  of  that  place,  and 
made  an  improvement  in  the  scythe.  The  historian  adds  : 
'•  This  improvement  consisted  in  lengthening  the  blade, 
making  it  thinner,  and  welding  a  square  bar  on  the  back, 
to  strengthen  it,  as  in  the  modern  scythe.  Before  this,  an 
old  English  blade  was  short  and  thick,  like  a  bush  scythe." 

The  trustees  regarded  the  result  of  the  competition  of 
1855,  on  the  whole,  with  satisfaction.  It  showed  what  im- 
provements were  necessary,  and  that  no  inherent  difficul- 
ties existed.  They  say  in  the  official  report  that  "  rough 
land  covered  with  stones,  hilly  and  broken  surfaces  and 
reclaimed  bogs  were  all  brought  under  the  dominion  of 
the  machine ;  "  also,  that  "  the  farmer  will  gain  in  the  end 
by  putting  his  field  into  better  condition  for  the  use  of 
the  machine,  with  a  consequence  to  be  hoped  for,  of 
clearer  and  better  ordered  fields,  and  the  removal  of 
stumps  and  stones  that  have  been  too  long  an  eye-sore 
and  a  disgrace  to  many  of  our  farms  j"  and  furthermore, 
that,  "  the  better  and  stouter  the  grass,  the  more  perfect 
has  been  the  working  of  the  machine,  in  all  respects— an 
inducement  to  better  cultivation."  It  had  been  stipulated 
that  the  committee  might,  at  their  option,  divide  the  total 


FOR  PROMOTING  AGRICULTURE.  11 T 

premium  among  claimants  of  equal  merit,  and  the  1600 
was  shared  equally  in  the  award  between  Marcus  Barrett 
of  Auburn  and  S.  Parsons  &  Son  of  Northampton. 

In  the  offer  of  'flOOO  premium  for  the  next  year,  the 
appeal   was    distinctly  to  the   manufacturers,    it    being' 
for  "  the  best  mowing  machine  that  shall  be  made  and 
used  in  the  summer  of  1856  " —  that  is,  the  trial  was  to  be 
with  newl}^  made  machines,  and  to  continue  during  the 
haying  season,  thus  securing  the  latest  improvements  and 
an  adequate  test.     A  committee  of  three  practical  farm- 
ers, not  members  of  the  society,  was  appointed  to  super- 
vise the  competition,  and  make  the  award.     They  added 
one  more  condition,  that  each  competitor  should  mow  five 
acres  in  the  presence  of  the  committee  on  a  day  fixed  by 
them,  and  in  a  field  chosen  by  the  exhibitor.     Ten  ma- 
chines were  entered,  and  after  trial,  five  were  set  aside,  as 
being  so  far  inferior  that  they  could  not  be   taken  into 
consideration,  and  one,  as  not  being  adapted  to  the  varied 
surface  of  this  State.     The  remaining  four  were  assigned 
to  work  in  succession  on  small  lots  of  grass,  of  equal  di- 
mensions, in  the  same  field,  each  machine  being  drawn  by 
the  same  pair  of  horses  and  managed  by  the  same  driver, 
who  was  not  interested  in  any  machine.     A  like  trial  was 
had  on  meadow-bottom,  which  had  never  been  ploughed, 
where  various  natural  grasses,  coarse  and  fine,  were  in- 
termixed. The  award  of  11000  was  to  D.  C.  Henderson  of 
Sandusky,  Ohio.     The  report  of  the  committee  abounds 
in  details,  but  no  statistics  of  breakage  are  given,  whence, 
perhaps,  it  may  be  inferred  that  the  havoc  witnessed  in 
the  preceding  year  had  duly  admonished  the  manufactur- 
ing experts,  leading  them  to  adopt,  mentally,  a  standard 
for   design    and    workmanship  approaching  to  that  pre- 
sejated  by  Dr.  Holmes  in  his  poem  entitled  the  "One  Hoss 
Shay."      This    retrospect   will    supply   the    historically 
minded  reader- with  two  dates — that  when,  what  to  modern 
generations  has  been  known  as  the  scythe,  first  came  into 
use,  being  the  product  of  a  Massachusetts  inventor ;  and 


118  THE  MASSACHUSETTS   SOCIETY 

that  when  this  hitherto  universal  implement  began  to  be 
supplanted,  and  the  new  era  in  grass-cutting  began. 

The  report  contained  the  following  commentary  :  '*  The 
trustees  have  now  done  all  that  lies  in  their  power  to  in- 
troduce the  mowing  machine  into  use,  as  a  great  labor- 
saving  implement.  They  hope  not  only  that  it  will  be 
adopted,  but  that  it  will  lead  the  way  to  the  use  of  others, 
equally  labor-saving  and  quite  as  essential  to  the  prosper- 
ity of  agriculture  in  Massachusetts." 

In  1857  George  Williams  Lyman  was  chosen  president 
of  the  society  in  place  of  John  C.  Gray,  resigned.  The 
trustees  appropriated  $200  for  the  importation  from  Eng- 
land of  two  hay-making  machines,  known  as  "  tedders." 
On  arrival,  the  next  year,  one  was  placed  with  President 
Lyman,  at  his  farm  in  Waltham,  and  one  with  George  B. 
Loring,  a  trustee,  at  his  farm  in  Salem.  Of  their  work- 
ing each  made  a  report,  which  was  warmly  commenda- 
tory. Both  the  reports  were  published  in  one  of  the 
pamphlet  issues  of  the  society,  and  in  more  permanent 
form  in  the  volume  of  transactions,  and  no  doubt  contrib- 
uted to  the  general  adoption  of  the  apparatus,  which  fol- 
lowed. The  apparatus  did  not  go  into  general  use,  how- 
ever, in  its  original  form  ;  for  the  new  machines  made  here 
were  much  lighter  in  weight  and  less  cumbrous  in  opera- 
ation. 

The  herd  of  Jersey  cattle  imported  in  1851  was  kept 
as  the  property  of  the  society  at  the  farm  of  Thomas 
Motley,  Jr.,  in  West  Roxbury,  until  1856.  The  bull 
calves  were  all  raised  and  sold  according  to  the  arrange- 
ment made  with  him,  as  his  property.  The  purchasers 
were  breeders  of  reputation  in  different  parts  of  the 
State.  In  1856  the  cows  and  heifers  were  exhibited 
by  the  society  at  the  annual  Worcester  county  cattle 
show,  and  were  there  sold  by  auction.  The  central  situa- 
tion in  the  State  of  the  show-ground,  and  the  convenience 
of  access  by  railroad,  induced  a  large  attendance  of  farm- 


FOR  PROMOTING  AGRICULTURE.  119 

ei's,  80  that  the  purchasers  of  the  cattle  represented  an 
extensive  region,  and  thereby  a  distribution  was  made  in 
a  manner  satisfactory  to  the  trustees. 

In  1858,  agreeably  to  a  plan  decided  upon  in  the  pre- 
ceding year,  the  trustees  made  an  arrangement  with 
Sanford  Howard,  an  expert  of  reputation  in  cattle  of  pure 
blood,  to  visit  Scotland  and  purchase  four  bulls  and  ten 
heifers  of  Ayrshire  stock,  of  the  Swinley  strain.  The 
sum  of  $3,500  was  voted  for  the  purpose,  with  instruc- 
tions to  Mr.  Howard,  if  it  proved  insufficient,  to  diminish 
the  number  but  not  the  quality  of  the  cattle.  In  the 
course  of  the  season  they  were  shipped  in  two  vessels,  and 
on  arrival  were  placed  at  the  farm  of  Nathan  W.  Brown, 
in  Topsfield.  The  management  of  the  herd  was  similar  to 
that  followed  in  previous  like  instances.  In  1859  the 
stock  then  remaining  was  removed  to  Mr.  Motley's  farm 
in  West  Roxbury,  and  during  the  following  year  the  ani- 
mals were  sold  by  auction  to  prominent  farmers  and 
breeders  in  Roxbury,  Salem,  Marblehead,  Southbridge 
and  Topsfield.  In  1858  a  bequest  of  $9,166.07  from  Dr. 
George  C.  Shattuck,  Sen.,  was  received  and  added  to  the 
permanent  funds  of  the  society. 

In  1859  the  trustees  received  a  communication  from  the 
Hampden  County  Society,  setting  forth  a  project  for  or- 
ganizing a  State  Agricultural  Society,  and  expressing  in- 
tention to  apply  for  an  independent  charter,  unless  the 
Massachusetts  society  preferred  to  cooperate  in  the  move- 
ment through  such  amendments  of  its  charter  as  would 
have  a  like  effect.  The  trustees  voted  to  put  the  docu- 
ment on  file,  and  to  have  the  following  entered  upon  the 
records,  as  a  memorandum  explanatory  of  the  views  of 
the  society : 

By  reference  to  page  408,  of  volume  6,  of  the  society's 
publications  of  the  year  1821,  it  will  be  seen  that  the 
society  had  not,  up  to  that  period,  and  it  certainly  has  not 
since,  arrogated  to  itself  the  position  of  a  State  agricultu- 
ral society.  In  speaking  of  the  formation  of  a  State 
agricultural  society  in  New  Hampshire,  the  trustees   of 


120  THE  MASSACHUSETTS   SOCIETY 

that  date  say,  "  With  us  we  have  no  such  establishment. 
The  Massachusetts  society  has  nothing  which  gives  it 
either  authority  or  pre-eminence  over  any  county  society. 
Nor  do  we  wish  that  any  such  power  should  be  delegated. 
We  cannot  conceive  any  advantage  which  could  be 
derived  from  any  general  society.  If  local,  with  general 
powers,  it  would  be  the  object  of  jealousy.  If  composed 
of  gentlemen  from  all  parts  of  the  State,  its  meetings 
would  be  few,  formal,  expensive  and  productive  of  no 
substantial  good.  All  that  agricultural  societies  ought  to 
wish  is  a  charter  to  enable  them  to  manage  their  funds, 
and  occasional  aid  from  the  Legislature,  to  enable  them  to 
give  that  spring  to  agricultural  experiments  which  is  the 
soul  of  all  exertion." 

During  the  same  year  the  trustees  voted  to  have  the 
following  entered  upon  the  records : 

Voted,  as  the  opinion  of  the  board  of  trustees,  that  the 
introduction  of  trials  of  speed  between  horses,  and 
awarding  premiums  therefor,  is  a  perversion  of  the  objects 
originally  contemplated  in  the  establishment  of  agricultu- 
ral shows  ;  that  the  effect  has  been  to  withdraw  attention 
from  the  exhibition  of  stock  and  other  farm  products,  and 
to  discourage  their  being  brought  to  the  shows  for  com- 
petition. 

Voted,  that  this  board  will  entertain  no  application  for 
aid  or  countenance,  in  any  form,  to  any  agricultural  show 
where  trials  of  speed  between  horses  are  allowed,  or  where 
the  greatest  speed  is  made  the  test  of  superiority  in 
awarding  any  premium  on  horses. 

The  society  has  ever  since  continued  the  policy  as 
stated  in  the  foregoing  vote. 

In  March,  1860,  the  trustees  appointed  a  committee, 
consisting  of  George  B.  Loring,  Richard  S.  Fay  and  Peter 
C.  Brooks,  Jr.,  to  appear  before  any  committee  appointed 
by  the  Legislature  to  consider  the  prevalent  contagious, 
fatal  disease  among  neat  cattle,  known  as  pleuro  pneu- 
monia, and  to  advocate  efficient  preventive  legislation. 
The  board  also  voted  to  appropriate  $2,000  as  a  guaranty 
fund  to  aid  in  extirpating  the  disease.  On  Sept.  12,  1861, 
the  trustees  adopted  the  following  : 


FOR   PKOMOTING   AGRICULTUKE.  121 

t 

Voted,  that  the  secretary  of  the  State  Board  of  Agri- 
culture be  informed,  with  a  request  that  he  will  inform 
also  the  Executive,  that,  in  consideration  of  the  present 
condition  of  this  country,  this  society  will  not  this  year 
call  for  the  annual  bounty  of  |600  furnished  by  the  State. 

The  war  had  begun,  and  the  trustees  felt  that  the 
State's  money  was  more  needed  for  her  soldiers-  at  the 
front,  than  it  was  needed  for  the  society's  work  in  Massa- 
chusetts. On  Oct.  18  of  the  same  year,  the  following  was- 
adopted  by  the  board. 

Voted,  to  invest  $1500,  now  in  the  hands  of  the  treas- 
urer, in  the  seven-thirty  loan  of  the  United  States. 

The  latter  vote  might  not  seem  to  signify  much  to  read- 
ers whose  memory  does  not  reach  back  to  the  trying 
experiences  of  the  civil  war ;  or,  in  ignorance  of  the  facts^ 
it  might  seem  only  to  mean  that  a  prudent  investment 
was  made  at  a  good  rate  of  interest.  But  the  prophets  of 
evil  were  many  in  those  days,  though  fewer,  indeed,  in 
this,  than  some  other  northern  states.  Such  decried  the* 
ability  of  the  government  to  fulfill  its  promises  of  money 
payment ;  predicted  that  the  war  would  end  in  ruin  of  the 
national  credit,  and,  with  special  reference  to  currency 
notes,  or  "  greenbacks,"  declared  that  the  time  would 
soon  come,  when  a  farmer  would  not  be  willing  to  ex- 
change his  load  of  wood  for  greenbacks,  cord  for  cord." 
It  argued  the  possession  of  patriotic  feeling  as  well  as 
cool  judgment,  at  the  point  of  time  named,  to  invest  in- 
government  securities.  The  trustees  were  men  of  that 
stamp,  and  no  doubt  felt,  besides,  that  it  would  be  action  in 
the  direction  of  the  society's  mission  to  contribute,  in  this 
way,  to  sustain  the  government,  under  whose  triumphant 
sword,  only,  could  the  arts  of  peace  be  expected  to  flour- 
ish. Investments  in  national  securities  to  the  amount  of 
17,000,  or  more,  were  made  subsequently,  to  which  the 
precise  comment  might  be  less  applicable  ;  for  as  the  war 
progressed,  the  panicky  feeling  subsided.  During  the  con- 
tinuance of  the  war  the  annual  state  bounty  was  declined. 

In  1861,  the  Bussey  Farm,  so  called,  at  West  Roxbury, 


122  THE  MASSACHUSETTS   SOCIETY 

V 

having  become,  by  bequest,  the  property  of  Harvard  Col- 
lege, some  negotiations  were  had,  initiated,  apparently, 
by  the  college  authorities,  looking  to  a  cooperation  in 
scientific  education  in  agricultural  matters.  This  was 
later  attained  to  in  a  modified  form,  whereby  the  society 
granted  pecuniary  aid  to  this  department  of  college  in- 
struction. In  1864  a  series  of  experiments  by  the  society 
was  completed,  in  which  a  careful  study  was  made  of 
several  different  jnethods  of  applying  manure,  record  of 
the  crop  obtained  by  each  method  being  kept.  In  each 
experiment,  five  lots  of  land,  of  equal  size,  were  used,  and 
the  work  was  carried  through  three  successive  years,  with 
different  crops  each  year.  One  lot,  in  each  case,  had  no 
manure  ;  and  thus  its  yield  served  as  a  minimum,  from 
which  the  comparative  yield,  by  different  methods  of  ma- 
nuring, could  be  measured.  The  first  experiment  was 
begun  in  1860,  and  the  third  in  1862.  About  a  dozen 
competitors,  in  different  parts  of  the  State,  participated 
in  each  instance.  The  results  were  tabulated,  and  pub- 
lished in  pamphlets,  by  the  society,  and  also  in  the  reports 
of  the  Board  of  Agriculture.  The  society  made  awards 
to  the  amount  of  $300,  for  the  best  three  experiments  in 
each  set,  or  $900  in  all. 

In  1863  a  report  was  made  by  a  committee  appointed 
that  year  to  consider  the  best  method  of  applying  the  ac- 
cumulated funds  of  the  society.  The  recommendation  was 
to  import  and  maintain  a  breeding  stock  of  horses,  adapted 
to  farm  work  and  drayage  ;  and  the  Percheron  breed, 
which  exists,  as  stated,  in  its  most  perfect  form  and  high- 
est condition  in  Le  Perche,  a  district  of  Normandy,  in 
France,  was  approved.  The  report  affirmed  that  this 
breed  would  not  only  be  a  gain  to  the  agriculturalist,  in 
securing  a  better  class  of  work-horses  for  farm  use,  but  a 
class  readily  marketable  as  dray  horses  and  the  like,  and 
therefore  profitable  to  a  farmer  who  inclined  to  breed 
stock.  Incidentally  it  was  remarked  that  the  breeding  of 
horses  for  high  speed  does  not  pay  the  farmer,  "  though 


FOR   PROMOTING  AGRICULTURE.  123 

once  in  a  lifetime  he  may  get  a  fancy  price  for  an  animal 
of  this  character,  if  he  keeps  it  long  enough,  and  follows 
it  upon  trotting  courses  for  days  and  years,  when  he 
should  be  upon  his  farm." 

The  recommendation  was  carried  into  effect  at  once, 
and  the  equivalent  of  $25,000  francs  was  voted  for  the 
purpose.  As  the  value  of  United  States  paper  money 
then  stood,  it  required  to  purchase  the  exchange,  $7,352.- 
94.  Correspondence  was  entered  into  with  Mr.  G.  T. 
Richards,  resident  in  Paris.  \Early  in  the  winter  the  sec- 
retary of  the  society,  Richard  S.  Fay,  was  in  Paris,  and 
all  the  arrangements  were  perfected,  so  that  the  purchase 
and  exportation  from  France  should  be  made,  under  Mr. 
Richards'  direction,  in  the  spring  of  1864.  The  horses, 
two  stallions  and  three  mares,  arrived  at  Mr.  Motley's 
farm  on  July  5,  of  that  year.  Afterwards  they  were 
placed  at  the  Bussey  Farm,  some  arrangement  as  to 
rental,  and  building  a  new  stable  for  them,  having  been 
made  with  the  college  authorities,  who  were  conducting 
the  farm  for  purposes  of  agricultural  instruction.  An  ex- 
cellent bargain  had  been  made  by  Mr.  Richards,  both  as  to 
(quality  and  cost,  and  the  animals  commanded  general  ad- 
miration. The  members  of  the  Board  of  Agriculture  made 
an  official  visit  to  the  premises,  and  leading  farmers  came 
from  distant  parts  of  the  State  to  behold  the  society's  new 
acquisition.  The  trustees  expressed  their  satisfaction,  and 
their  appreciation  of  Mr.  Richards'  efforts,  by  tendering  him 
a  vote  of  thanks,  and  electing  him  an  honorary  member  of 
the  society.  The  stallions  were  named  "  Conqueror  "  and 
"  Orleans."  The  following  was  the  weight  of  the  animals  : 
Conqueror,  1470  lbs.  ;  Orleans,  1270  lbs.;  Empress,  1410 
lbs.;  Normandy,  1330  lbs.  ;  Lyons,  1360  lbs.  Photographs 
of  Conqueror  and  Orleans  were  engraved  for  the  Board  of 
Agriculture,  and  published  in  the  annual  report  of  that 
body.  Premiums  of  8200,  |150  and  $100  were  offered,  an- 
nually, for  the  three  best  yearling  colts,  the  progeny  of  the 
stallions.      In  1866  the  stallions  were   exhibited  at  the 


124  THE  MASSACHUSETTS   SOCIETY 

county  agricultural  show  in  Concord,  and  in  1867  at  that 
in  Springfield. 

During  the  third  quarter  of  a  century  of  the  society's 
existence,  its  surplus  or  accrued  funds  were  not  applied  y 
in  premiums,  by  any  constant  system.  In  some  years  no 
premiums  were  paid ;  and  only  one,  that  to  encourage  the 
growth  of  forest  trees  for  ship  timber,  was  continuously 
offered.  In  other  years  the  total  of  premiums  paid  wa& 
very  small ;  but  money  was  expended  with  a  liberal  hand 
in  various  ways,  some  of  which  have  been  mentioned. 
Among  the  additional  payments  were  the  following :  In 
1853,  for  premiums  at  the  national  exhibition  of  horses, 
f  250,  and  to  aid  the  Legislative  Agricultural  Society  in 
giving  lectures,  1100 ;  in  1854,  as  premiums  for  the  cattle 
shows  of  the  Worcester  and  the  Berkshire  societies,  $150 
each,  and  to  purchase  a  Jersey  bull  for  the  State  Reform 
institution  at  Westboro,  tflOO  ;  in  1855,  for  premiums  at 
the  exhibition  of  the  United  States  Agricultural  Society, 
held  on  the  newly-filled  territory  between  South  Bay  and 
Harrison  Avenue,  11,000,  and  the  same  year,  to  the  Ply- 
mouth County  society,  for  premiums,  $125  ;  in  1856,  for 
premiums  on  dairy  stock  at  an  exhibition  held  at  the 
same  time  with  the  annual  cattle  show  of  the  Worcester 
County  society,  nearly  $2,000 ;  in  1857,  for  premiums  at 
a  State  exhibition,  the  awards  being  made  under  the  di- 
rection of  the  Board  of  Agriculture,  |2,000  ;  in  1858,  as  a 
subscription  for  the  purchase,  for  the  Natural  History 
Society,  of  Dr.  T.  W.  Harris's  collection  of  insects  in 
Massachusetts  injurious  to  vegetation,  $150  ;  in  1861,  to- 
aid  the  Barnstable  Agricultural  Society,  $200  ;  in  1866, 
to  aid  the  Botanical  Garden  of  Harvard  University,  $500  ;. 
in  1867,  to  pay  the  tuition  fees  of  three  deserving  students- 
at  the  State  Agricultural  College,  $150. 

Various  pamphlets  relating  to  agriculture  were  issued 
from  time  to  time,  and  the  expense  of  an  agricultural  sur- 
vey of  the  counties  of  Middlesex  and  Essex,  in  1858  and 
1859,  was  met  by  the  society.     In  1858,  premiums  of  $150' 


FOR   PROMOTING   AGRICULTURE.  125 

in  each  case  were  offered  for  the  best  essay  on  the  com- 
parative economy  of  the  labor  of  horses  and  oxen  ;  on  the 
most  desirable  breed  of  neat  cattle  for  this  state,  having 
regard  for  yield  of  milk,  for  work  and  for  beef ;  on  ma- 
nures ;  and  on  agricultural  education.  In  1855  was  be- 
gun a  series  of  annual  importations  of  different  varieties 
of  turnip  and  beet  seeds,  which  continued  for  ten  years. 
The  Ipwest  figure  of  value  in  any  year  was  il04,  and  the 
highest  f350.  For  two  years  the  record  is  of  weight 
only,  viz.;  200  pounds  eaclf  of  yellow-globe  mangold, 
long-red  mangold,  ruta  baga  and  sugar  beet,  and  the  next 
year  somewhat  less  than  half  the  quantity.  These  seeds 
were  distributed  among  the  farmers  of  the  state,  gratui- 
tously, principally  through  the  Board  of  Agriculture  and 
the  Committee  on  Agriculture  of  the  General  Court. 

Accordingly,  at  the  date  of  the  annual  meeting  of  1867, 
the  members  of  the  society  could  look  back  upon  twenty- 
five  years  of  very  useful  and  very  miscellaneous  work ; 
and,  although  they  had  to  a  great  extent  proceeded  by 
quite  different  methods,  they  had  no  cause  to  feel  that 
they  had  done  less  than  their  predecessors,  of  either  of  the 
two  preceding  like  periods,  in  promoting  agriculture. 

The  Percheron  stallions,  after  being  exhibited  at  Spring- 
field in  the  autumn  of  1867,  were  kept  in  the  western 
part  of  the  state  for  a  year,  and  then  returned  to  West 
Roxbury.  In  June,  1870,  all  the  Percheron  stock  was 
sold  by  auction,  excepting  the  stallion  Murat  and  a  filly. 
In  November,  1871,  Murat  was  sold.  The  general  result 
of  this  importation  of  French  horses  was  regarded  with 
great  satisfaction  by  the  trustees  ;  and  during  the  follow- 
ing years  favorable  reports  as  to  the  practical  value  of  the 
horses  were  heard,  from  time  to  time,  derived  from  farmers 
and  others  who  were  using  them.  In  1875,  the  mare 
Empress,  of  this  importation,  was  sold  by  her  owner,  with 
a  cart  and  harness,  at  an  auction  sale,  for  $400 ;  and  the 
person  who  reported  the  fact  to  one  of  the  trustees,  said 
that  the  horse  ''never  looked  better." 


126  THE   MASSACHUSETTS    SOCIETY 

In  1867  it  was  decided  to  import  a  small  lot  of  Jersey 
cattle,  and  to  make  a  conditional  gift  of  them  to  the  Farm' 
School,  an  educational  institution  situated  on  Thompson's 
island,  in  Boston  harbor.  The  expectation  was  that  the 
herd,  being  thus  isolated,  would  become  of  high  reputa- 
tion, as  unquestionably  pure-blood  Jerseys.  In  the  spring 
of  1868,  Mr.  Thomas  Motley,  first  vice  president  of  the 
society,  voyaged  to  Europe  and  visited  the  isle  of  Jersey, 
where  he  bought,  for  the  society,  a  bull  and  three  heifers, 
which,  on  arrival,  were  placed  at  Thompson's  island. 
The  cost  altogether  was  about  iloOO.  One  of  the  condi- 
tions of  the  gift  was  that  the  bull  calves  should  be  the 
property  of  the  society.  Gifts  of  young  bulls  were  sub- 
sequently made,  one  to  the  Sailors'  Snug  Harbor,  one  to 
the  National  Sailors'  Home,  and  one  to  the  Barnstable 
County  Agricultural  Society.  One  or  two  were  sold. 
About  the  year  1873  the  herd  suffered  a  decline,  and  the 
society  relinquished,  for  a  while,  any  responsibility.  Un- 
der a  new  method  of  management,  a  complete  restoration 
was  effected,  so  that  in  1879  the  trustees  expressed,  offi- 
cially, their  full  satisfaction,  and  ordered  an  expenditure 
of  $108  for  a  proper  recording  in  the  herd-book,  and  the 
putting  up  of  posts,  rings  and  chains  in  the  place  of  stan- 
chions, for  the  greater  comfort  of  the  animals. 

In  October,  1868,  the  subject  of  artificial  propagation 
of  food  fishes  was  brought  up  in  an  essay  by  Theodore 
Lyman,  the  treasurer  of  the  society,  the  argument,  in  part, 
being  directed  to  a  profitable  use  of  brooks  and  ponds  by 
farmers.  At  the  December  meeting,  premiums  of  -11)300 
and  '$200  were  offered  for  the  two  best  fish-breeding  es- 
tablishments for  fresh-water  fishes.  There  were  six  or 
seven  competitors,  and  the  award  of  the  larger  sum  was 
made,  in  1872,  to  Dexter,  Bacon  &  Coolidge  of  West  Barn- 
stable, and  the  smaller  to  Walter  Gilbert  of  Russell  Mills, 
Plymouth.  In  1869  action  was  taken  preparatory  to  giv- 
ing, in  the  autumn,  a  stock  exhibition  by  the  society,  in 
Boston,  in  the  building  called  the  "  Coliseum,"  a  structure 
erected  for  a  musical  festival  held  in  the  course  of  the 


FOR   PROMOTING  AGRICULTURE.  127 

summer ;  but  the  negotiations  failed  through  a  division  of 
opinion,  or  of  authority,  among  the  owners  of  the  building, 
and  the  trustees  reluctantly  abandoned  their  project. 

In  1870  Thomas  Motley  was  chosen  president  of  the  so- 
ciety, in  place  of  George  W.  Lyman,  who  resigned  after  a 
service  in  that  office  of  13  yeafs.  In  1870  a  premium  of 
$1,000  was  paid  to  B.  Perley  Poore  of  Newbury  for  a  plan- 
tation of  forest  trees.  This  premium  was  offered  in  1857, 
the  conditions,  in  part,  being  that  the  area  must  be  at  least 
five  acres,  the  trees  of  a  wood  used  in  shipbuilding,  with 
one  white  oak  for  every  twenty  square  yards  of  ground,  the 
award  to  be  made  in  1870.  In  April,  1871,  the  trustees 
ordered  an  importation  of  twelve  English  harrows,  for  use 
in  loosening  the  surface  of  grass  land  and  pastures,  and 
breaking  into  fragments  top-dressing,  or  other  fertilizing 
material,  thereupon.  In  August,  an  exhibition  of  the  appa- 
ratus was  made  before  the  trustees,  at  a  farm  in  Brookline, 
and  it  received,  promptly,  the  official  approval  and  recom- 
mendation. At  the  same  meeting  in  August,  a  paper  was 
read  describing  the  appearance  and  habits  of  the  potato 
bug,  or  Colorado  beetle,  and  giving  account  of  its  ravages 
in  some  places,  with  suggestion  of  remedial  measures.  It 
was  ordered  to  be  printed  and  distributed  at  once  for  the 
information  of  farmers  in  this  State. 

In  1872  was  received  the  amount  of  a  bequest  to  the  so- 
ciety by  Francois  Andre  Michaux  of  Versailles,  France,  a 
net  sum  of  f  7,807.67.  He  was  an  eminent  scientist  who 
gave  his  attention  chiefly  to  botany  and  related  subjects. 
He  visited  this  country  first  in  1785,  with  his  father,  Andre 
Michaux,  who  was  of  equal  eminence  as  a  botanist.  His 
second  visit  was  in  1801,  when  he  carried  to  completion 
certain  investigations  and  experiments  which  his  father  had 
begun.  He  came  again  in  1806  and  made  an  exploration 
of  the  whole  Atlantic  seaboard  region,  from  Maine  to  Geor- 
gia, inclusive.  Another  sojourn  occurred  in  1816,  at  which 
time  he  was  elected  an  honorary  member  of  the  Massachu- 
setts  Society  for  Promoting  Agriculture.     He  received   a 


128  THE    MASSACHUSETTS   SOCIETY 

like  recognition  from  the  American  Philosophical  Society 
of  Philadelphia.  In  his  will,  made  in  18e52,  he  made  be- 
jquests  to  both  societies.  He  had  previously  written  a  letter 
to  a  friend  in  this  country  announcing  a  purpose  so  to  do, 
and  explains  by  saying  :  ''  I  wish  to  give  the  American  na- 
tion a  testimonial  of  my  gratitude  for  the  hospitality  and 
assistance  my  father  and  myself  received  in  that  country, 
during  the  course  of  our  long  and  toilsome  journeys."  The 
Society's  records  give  no  intimation  of  the  special  form  in 
which  the  attentions,  for  which  he  expresses  gratitude,  were 
bestowed.  But  the  character  of  the  work  he  was  engaged 
in,  and  his  superior  qualifications  as  a  man  of  science, 
could  not  have  failed  to  commend  him  to  those,  who,  at 
either  date,  held  official  or  prominent  position  in  the  soci- 
ety. Doubtless  he  received  many  personal  attentions,  as 
well  as  the  official  one  of  election  to  honorary  membership. 

The  result  of  his  investigations  in  this  country  was  pub- 
lished in  different  editions  under  the  title  of  "  Sylva  Amer- 
icana.'^  A  set  of  the  final  and  perfected  edition,  of  five  il- 
lustrated volumes,  was  purchased  by  the  society,  and  is  a 
part  of  its  library.  By  the  terms  of  the  will,  the  fund  is 
applicable  in  experiments  in  producing  new  cereals  in  hor- 
ticulture and  arboriculture,  and,  especially,  the  cultivation 
of  hardy  forest  trees,  which  the  testator  judged  might  pro- 
fitably be  grown  on  sterile  or  sandy  land,  or  land  encum- 
bered with  rocks  or  quagmires.  In  a  general  way,  such 
undertakings  had  already  received  encouragement  from  the 
society,  and  so  continued ;  but  the  legacy  was  greatly  ap- 
preciated, as  permitting  of  expenditure,  in  these  lines,  with 
a  more  liberal  hand. 

In  1876  measures  were  taken  to  encourage  the  planting 
of  forest  trees,  by  enlarging  the  premium  list  and  modifying 
the  conditions,  the  premiums  offered  being  11,000,  'S600 
and  $400  for  the  best,  and  second  and  third  best  plantations, 
of  not  less  than  five  acres.  The  trees  v^ere  to  be  Scotch  or 
Corsican  pine,  in  Barnstable,  Dukes  and  Nantucket  coun- 
ties, and  European  larch  elsewhere  in  the  State ;  to  be  grown 


FOR  PKOMOTING  AGRICULTURE.  129 

on  land  not  suitable  for  general  agricultural  purposes,  and 
to  have  2,700  trees  per  acre  ;  also  premiums  of  1600  and 
$4:00  were  offered  for  five  acre  lots  of  white  ash,  not  less 
than  5,000  to  the  acre. 

It  was  also  voted  to  reprint,  for  gratuitous  distribution, 
an  edition  of  10,000  copies  of  the  essay  on  forest-tree  plant- 
ing by  Prof.  Charles  S.  Sargent  of  Harvard  College,  a 
trustee  of  this  society.  This  was  originally  published  in 
the  annual  report  of  the  Board  of  Agriculture,  and  was  now 
issued  with  a  new  preface,  written  by  the  professor. 

A  plan  of  co-operation  with  Harvard  College  in  making 
experiments,  and  giving  instruction  in  agricultural  chemis- 
try, arboriculture  and  botany,  as  related  to  agriculture,  was 
agreed  upon  soon  after  the  college  authorities  established 
the  Bussey  Institute,  and  organized  it  with  a  corps  of  pro- 
fessors. About  12,500  per  annum  was  applied  in  this  way, 
during  the  ten  years  prior  to  1880,  the  grant  being,  once  or 
twice,  as  large  as  13,500,  and  reduced  to  $1500  in  other- 
years ;  and  a  part  of  the  expenditure  each  year  was  made 
at  the  Botanic  Garden  in  Cambridge.  The  experiments 
were  made  to  some  extent  under  the  direction  or  in  con- 
formity with  suggestions  of  the  trustees,  and  consisted  in 
part  of  analyses  of  soils,  and  patented  or  imported  fertili- 
zers. The  State  Agricultural  College  was  also  a  beneficiary 
of  the  society  during  the  same  period,  the  gift  being  about 
8250,  each  year,  for  scholarships.  Various  other  things 
helpful  to  agriculture  were  done,  among  which  were  the  is- 
suing of  pamphlets,  treating  on  new  or  otherwise  pertinent 
topics ;  the  donation  of  $500  as  premiums  at  the  exhibition 
of  the  Pomological  Society  in  1873,  and  $500  to  the  same 
in  1880  ;  a  gift  of  $200  to  aid  an  ingenious  student  at  the 
Agricultural  College  in  perfecting  his  device  for  a  steam 
plough  ;  a  gift  of  1500  to  aid  the  Agassiz  summer  school  at 
Pemikese  island,  a  part  of  the  instruction  there  given,  hav- 
ing relation  to  agriculture ;  a  gift  of  $250  for  engraving 
plates  to  illustrate  a  treatise  on  the  fungi  of  trees  and 
plants,  being  the  result  of  studies  by  one  of  the  professors 


130  THE   MASSACHUSETTS  SOCIETY 

at  the  Bassey  Institute  ;  also  for  translating  and  printing 
an  illustrated  French  work  on  tree  pruning,  for  gratuitous 
distribution,  f  300 ;  and  for  premiums  at  a  butter  show  in 
Greenfield,  in  1879,  -^100. 

In  1874  the  society  made  an  importation  of  a  bull  and 
eight  cows  of  Guernsey  stock,  for  the  purchase  of  which 
President  Motley  visited  the  isle  of  Guernsey.  The  bull 
was  named  in  the  American  herd  book  the  "  Duke  of 
Guernsey,"  thereby  disusing  the  English  herd-book  name, 
though  still  permitting  in  the  record  the  pedigree  to  be 
traced.  A  fine  photograph  of  the  animal  was  obtained, 
which  continues  to  adorn  the  wall  of  the  society's  office, 
and  attracts  the  attention  and  commands  the  admiration  of 
visiting  connoisseurs.  The  herd,  on  arrival,  was  placed  in  a 
suitable  building  on  the  Bussey  Farm,  the  use  of  which  was 
granted  by  the  college  authorities.  Some  extraordinary 
statistics  of  yield  of  milk  and  butter  are  contained  in  the 
society's  records  relating  to  this  herd.  The  calves  were 
sold,  from  time  to  time,  for  ?i?100  each.  In  1875  the  fame 
of  the  cattle  being  established  throughout  the  State,  and  the 
adaptibility  of  the  breed  to  the  climate  being  assured,  the 
herd  was  sold  by  auction,  and  a  good  distribution  was  made. 
The  prices  thus  obtained,  in  general,  were  low  as  compared 
with  the  cost ;  but  one  cow  was  sold  for  1300,  and  a  six 
anonths  calf  for  |100. 

In  1876  an  importation  of  Berkshire  and  Essex  swine 
was  made.  One  of  the  trustees,  Mr.  E.  F.  Bowditch,  vis- 
ited Europe  that  season  and  made  the  purchases.  The  ani- 
mals were  placed  at  his  celebrated  farm  in  South  Framing- 
ham.  The  enterprise  proved  very  successful,  and  another 
importation  was  made  in  1877,  so  that  the  collection  aggre- 
gated at  one  time  a  hundred  or  more.  In  the  year  1880 
the  sales  from  this  stock  amounted  to  ^1,169. 

In  1877  premiums  were  offered  for  the  most  successful 
experiments  in  converting  salt  marsh  into  arable  land,  by 
dyking  and  draining.  A  considerable  degree  of  success  at- 
tended, during  certain  years,  the  experiments  made  at 
Thompson's  island   and   at   Edgartown ;  but   neither  was 


FOR   PROMOTING  AGRICIJLTURE.  131 

judged  to  be  so  continuously  prosperous  as  to  warrant  an 
award  at  the  end  of  the  term. 

In  1878  the  trustees  authorized  the  reprinting  of  a  book 
originally  issued  by  the  society  in  1866,  entitled,  ''High 
farming  without  manure."  It  was  a  translation  of  a  French 
work  written  by  M.  George  Viele,  professor  of  vegetable 
physiology  in  the  Museum  of  Natural  History  in  Paris.  In 
it  he  explains  at  length  a  series  of  experiments  begun  by 
him  in  1860  with  artificial  manures,  now  commonly  called 
^'  fertilizers."  The  experiments  were  based  upon  principles 
of  chemistry;  the  tests  were  made  upon  adequate  areas  of 
farming  land,  and  the  results  he  obtained  vindicated  the 
scientific  theory  which  he  had  announced,  as  to  vegetable 
processes  and  growth.  All  the  compounds  now  commer- 
cially known  as  fertilizers,  are  prepared  in  a  manner  gen- 
erally conformable  to  this  theory.  The  society's  large  edi- 
tion originally  published  was  promptly  taken  up,  and  the 
re-issue  was  in  response  to  a  continued  popular  demand. 
It  is  doubtless  to  be  regarded  as  an  indirect  consequence 
of  M.  Viele's  announcements  that  in  February,  1873,  the 
trustees  voted  to  import  from  Germany,  for  distribution 
among  Massachusetts  farmers,  six  tons  of  chemical  ma- 
nures. Samples  of  these  were  analyzed  subsequently  for 
the  society,  by  Prof.  Francis  H.  Storer  of  the  Bussey  In- 
stitute. Of  like  significance  is  the  shipment,  in  April, 
1873,  as  a  gift  to  the  society  from  John  Bennett  Lawes  of 
Rotherham,  Eng.,  of  three  tons  of  super-phosphate. 

In  1882  the  society  entered  upon  another  series  of  impor- 
tations of  live  stock.  At  the  beginning  of  the  year,  action 
was  taken  preparatory  to  the  purchase  abroad  of  not  ex- 
ceeding six  stallions  of  the  Percheron  breed.  In  April, 
when  President  Motley  was  about  to  visit  Europe,  the  board 
desired  him  to  make  the  purchase.  In  July,  a  letter  was 
received  from  him,  saying  that  the  demand  had  been  such, 
and  so  many  recent  exportation s  had  been  made,  that  it 
was  doubtful  if  a  good  selection  could  be  made  at  satisfac- 
tory prices.  A  cable  reply  was  sent  authorizing  the  pur- 
chase, at  his  discretion,  of  five  stallions,  at  not  exceeding 


132  THE  MASSACHUSETTS    SOCIETY 

$1,500  each.  These  were  bought,  and  on  arrival  were  sent 
to  Mr.  Bowditch's  farm  in  South  Framingham.  They  bore 
the  names  of  Nelluscot,  Brilliant,  Mercury,  Marseilles  and 
Magot.  Within  a  short  time  they  were  sent  to  different 
parts  of  the  State,  and  were  kept  as  the  society's  property 
until  1888,  when  they  were  sold  by  auction  in  Boston, 
During  several  years,  premiums  of  8100,  $75  and  |50  were 
paid  for  the  best  yearling  colts  of  their  progeny. 

Early  in  1882  action  was  taken  for  the  importation  of 
rams  of  superior  breeds.  These  consisted  of  twelve  South- 
downs,  eight  Cotswolds,  eight  Shropshires,  six  Hampshires, 
two  Oxford  Downs  and  one  of  the  Lincoln  breed.  Their 
first  distribution  was  by  loan  to  farmers,  in  different  parts- 
of  the  State  ;  but  in  1883,  they  were  re-assembled  and  sold, 
by  auction,  to  farmers  in  the  towns  of  Chester,  Mendon, 
South  Deerfield,  Ipswich,  Medfield,  Sutton,  Hudson,  Hub- 
bardston,  Worcester,  Middlefield,  Middleboro,  Hopkinton, 
Sterling,  Shelborne,  New  Braintree,  Enfield,  West  Bridge- 
water,  Barre,  Newbury,  Brockton,  HoUiston,  Palmer,  Hoi- 
yoke,  Leicester,  Cohasset,  Egremont,  Wales  and  Marshfield, 
Although  the  proceeds  of  the  sale  amounted  to  but  about 
half  the  cost  of  the  animals,  the  official  report  on  the  mat- 
ter expresses  satisfaction,  saying  that  the  object  of  the  so- 
ciety had  been  accomplished,  in  having  them  well  scattered 
throughout  the  State.  In  July,  1883,  an  importation  of 
ninety-nine  ewes  of  favored  breeds  was  made,  at  a  cost  of 
nearly  |5,000,  and  for  these,  by  auction  sale,  a  like  distribu- 
tion was  obtained. 

In  October,  1882,  the  board  was  informed  by  one  of  its 
members  that  the  authorities  of  Harvard  University  had 
taken  measures  to  establish  a  veterinary  school,  and  had 
already  appointed  a  professor  for  that  department.  This 
was  a  realization  of  what  had  been  recommended  thirty- 
eight  years  before,  in  a  report  made  to  the  trustees  by  Dr. 
J.  C.  Warren,  which  has  already  been  alluded  to.  At  that 
time  the  plan  of  an  organized  school  was  recognized,  in  the 
report,  as  not  practicable  financially.  The  trustees  now 
voted  15,000  to  aid  the  new  department  of  the  university. 


FOR   PROMOTING  AGRICULTURE.  133 

Some  conditions  were  attached,  which  circumstances  made 
it  difficult  to  carry  into  effect,  and  after  negotiation  and  a 
comparison  of  views,  the  sum  of  $2,000  was  granted,  uncon- 
ditionally, payable  "  whenever  an  arrangement  satisfactory 
to  the  college  has  been  made  for  an  establishment." 

In  February,  1885,  a  contagious  disease  having  appeared, 
known  as  "  hog-cholera  "  or  swine-fever,''  a  committee  of 
trustees  was  appointed  to  call  the  official  attention  of  the 
Executive  of  the  State  to  the  situation.  Governor  Ames 
responded  in  a  special  message  to  the  Legislature,  and  an 
act  was  promptly  passed  to  provide  authority  and  means  to 
exterminate  the  disease.  The  act  was  general  and  covered 
any  contagious  disease  which  existed,  or  might  appear, 
among  domestic  animals,  and  provided  a  penalty  for  a  wil- 
ful suppression  or  withholding  of  information  of  the  presence 
of  such  diseases. 

In  1887  a  premium  of  #1,000  was  awarded  and  paid  to 
J.  D.  W.  French,  of  North  Andover,  for  a  plantation  of 
larch  trees,  raised  by  him,  in  conformity  with  the  terms  of 
the  society's  premium  offers  of  1876.  The  official  report  of 
the  matter  says  that  the  trees  were  European  larches,  about 
15,000  in  number;  as  originally  planted.  They  were  set  to 
cover  an  area  of  five  acres,  about  four  feet  apart,  excepting 
along  the  boundaries  of  the  field,  where  they  were  placed 
nearer  together.  The  land  was  a  steep  slope,  facing  to  the 
south,  covered  with  a  thin  coating  of  gravelly  loam,  mixed, 
towards  the  bottom  of  the  hill,  with  light  sand.  It  was  of 
no  value  for  tillage,  but  had  been  used  for  pasturage,  though, 
of  little  worth  for  that,  having  but  the  scantiest  growth  of 
native  sedges  and  grasses.  During  the  ten  years  some  of 
the  trees  died,  so  that  the  space  was  not  covered  with  equal 
density  ;  but,  as  was  estimated,  from  10,000  to  12,000  thrifty 
trees  were  then  upon  the  ground.  They  were  not  of  equal 
height  throughout,  the  highest  tree  being  twenty-five  feet, 
and  measuring  at  the  butt  twenty-six  inches  in  circumfer- 
ence ;  but  those  spoken  of  as  the  smallest  averaged  twelve 
feet  height,  with  trunks  of  ten  or  twelve  inches  circumfer- 
ence.    Others  appeared  which  were  of  spontaneous  growth, 


134  THE   MASSACHUSETTS    SOCIETY 

among  them  white  pines,  six  or  eight  feet  high,  pitch-pines, 
fourteen  feet  high,  a  white  oak,  fifteen  feet  high,  and  a  gray 
birch,  seventeen  feet  high. 

The  cost  up  to  1887,  including  purchase  and  importation, 
labor,  fencing,  surveying  and  compound  interest  at  five  per 
cent.,  had  been,  1390.90.  The  committee  remarked  that 
the  experiment  sliowed  distinctly  that  the  European  larch 
can  be  grown  cheaply  on  very  poor  soil,  but  did  not  show 
that  native  trees  will  not  do  as  well,  instancing  the  white 
pine. 

In  1886  a  society  having  been  incorporated  as  the  Bay 
State  Agricultural  Society,  the  trustees  of  the  Massachu- 
setts Society  voted  to  give  it  financial  support  in  holding  a 
stock  exhibition  in  Boston.  The  vote  was  of  a  two-fold 
character,  providing  a  guaranty  fund  of  110,000  and  a  gift 
outright  of  12,500,  to  be  applied  in  premiums  in  the  name 
of  the  Massachusetts  Society.  The  efl'ect  of  the  guaranty 
was  to  give  the  new  institution  immediate  financial  credit- 
The  public  response,  in  the  purchase  of  tickets  of  admission 
to  the  exhibition,  was  generous,  and  the  enterprise  yielded  a 
profit,  so  that  the  guaranty  fund  was  not  drawn  upon. 
There  was  no  competition  for  one  or  two  of  the  society's 
premiums,  and  the  expenditure  under  that  head  was  but 
{|2,200.  Certain  members  of  the  board  of  trustees  were 
also  members  of  the  executive  board  of  the  Bay  State 
Society. 

The  exhibition  was  held  in  the  spacious  building  of  the 
Charitable  Mechanics'  Association,  on  Huntington  Avenue, 
beginning  on  Wednesday,  October  6,  and  closing  on  Satur- 
day evening  following.  The  situation  was  an  ideal  one,  in 
some  respects,  as  adequate  ventilation  and  a  proper  temper- 
ature could  be  constantly  maintained  ;  and  so  the  choice  and 
valuable  animals  escaped  such  discomforts  as  those,  which 
may  be  called  their  predecessors,  were  liable  to,  on  the 
bleak  hillsides  of  Brighton.  In  the  evening  the  interior  of 
the  building  was  lighted  by  electric  lamps.  The  number  of 
spectators  was  constantly  large.  On  one  day  the  attend- 
ance was  estimated  to  be  23,000,  an  accurate  enumeration 


FOR   PROMOTING  AGRICULTURE.  135 

not  being  possible,  as  many  were  admitted  by  season 
tickets.  The  figures,  taking  the  four  days  into  account,  are 
indicative  of  the  increase  of  population  and  travelling  facil- 
ities in  sixty  years,  when  compared  with  the  attendance  of 
4,000,  which  made  a  great  day  for  Brighton  ;  and,  consid- 
ering that  no  admission  fee  was  then  asked,  they  prove,  at 
least,  no  diminution  of  popular  interest  in  things  agri- 
cultural. 

The  exhibition  comprised :  Neat  cattle,  609  :  horses,  174  ; 
sheep,  285  ;  swine,  161 ;  coops  of  poultry,  745  ;  entries  of 
machines,  implements,  vegetables,  fruits,  dairy  products, 
etc.,  4,404.  It  was  unrestricted  as  to  territory,  and  the  ag- 
riculture of  each  of  the  New  England  states,  and  New  York 
state,  was  represented.  In  1888  the  Bay  State  Society  gave 
an  exhibition  at  Springfield,  which  was  not  guaranteed  by  the 
Massachusetts  Society,  though  fl,500  in  premiums  was 
granted  by  the  latter.  In  1889  another  exhibition,  with  guar- 
anty, was  given  in  the  Huntington  Avenue  building,  which 
was  substantially  a  repetition  of  that  of  1886,  and  at  which 
the  full  sum  of  12,500  was  paid  by  the  Massachusetts  Soci 
ety  in  premiums,  the  trustees  of  that  Society  being  again 
represented  on  the  board  of  directors. 

In  1884  the  trustees  reprinted  for  gratuitous  circulation 
a  small  volume  entitled  "  the  legal  rights  and  liabilities  of 
farmers."  Its  author  was  Edmund  H.  Bennett,  LLD.,  dean 
of  the  Boston  University  School  of  Law.  In  style  it  was 
familiar  and  concise.  It  was  generally  appreciated  by 
those  for  whose  reading  it  was  intended,  and  the  edition 
was  soon  exhausted.  In  it  the  main  points  of  common  and 
statute  law  were  presented,  as  applicable  to  bargaining  for  a 
farm,  to  farm  boundaries,  the  hiring  of  help,  rights  in  the 
public  road,  rights  of  way  over  farm  lands,  railroad  rights 
of  way,  farm  fences,  impounding  cattle,  injuries  to  and  by 
farm  animals,  injuries  by  dogs,  farmers'  liabilities  for  the 
acts  of  their  hired  men,  fires  in  the  fields  and  woods,  drain- 
age and  flowage  rights,  trespassing,  overhanging  trees, 
lightning-rod  agents  and  peddlers  of  patents. 

In  May,  1884,  the  trustees  granted  the  sum  of  8300  in  aid 


136  THE  MASSACHUSETTS   SOCIETY 

of  certain  experiments  to  be  conducted  by  Desmond  Fitz- 
gerald, superintendent  of  the  western  division  of  the  Boston 
Water  Works.  The  experiments  were  designed  to  ascer- 
tain the  scientific  facts  and  natural  laws  of  evaporation,  in 
out-door  situations,  and  had  primary  reference  to  the  con- 
ditions of  water  supply.  To  this  end  they  were  conducted 
upon  an  ample  scale ;  and  among  the  tests  applied,  were 
such  as  would  denote  the  relative  evaporation  of  cleared 
surfaces  of  land,  and  those  which  are  covered  with  forest. 
This  latter  inquiry  was  divided  into  separate  observations 
of  forests  of  evergreen,  and  those  of  deciduous  trees.  Con- 
temporary records  were  kept  in  each  case.  The  outcome 
of  such  an  investigation  would  manifestly  be  of  instructive 
interest  to  all  engaged  in  problems  of  practical  agriculture, 
and  might  disclose  facts  or  laws,  a  knowledge  of  which 
would  be  of  great  value  to  the  farmer,  and  of  immediate 
applicability.  The  experiments  were  encouraged  by  the 
trustees,  by  making  additional  grants  of  1200  in  the  latter 
part  of  1884,  and  1100  in  1889.  The  best  apparatus  was 
obtained,  and  the  observations  were  continued  through  five 
years,  together  with  meteorological  observations  requisite 
for  comparison.  The  labor  of  tabulating  and  collating  the 
facts  for  adequate  scientific  deduction,  has  not  yet  been 
completed,  but  is  in  progress. 

On  November  8,  1889,  the  trustees  took  action  for  an  in- 
vestigation of  the  gipsy  moth,  a  destructive  insect  which 
had  appeared  in  West  Medford,  and  |225  was  voted  for 
printing  and  distributing  in  the  farming  districts,  bulletins 
descriptive  of  the  moth  and  its  habits.  Nothing  farther 
was  done,  it  being  announced  at  the  next  meeting  of  the 
trustees,  that  the  State  authorities  had  begun  operations  for 
the  suppression  of  the  pest. 

Among  the  minor  transactions  of  the  society  during  the 
closing  ten  years  of  the  century,  are  the  advocacy,  before 
committees  of  the  Legislature,  of  statutes,  whicli  eventually 
were  enacted,  exempting  from  taxation  for  a  term  of  years, 
new  plantations  of  forest  trees,  and  to  prevent  the  destruc- 
tion of  forests  by  fires  kindled  through  carelessness  or  other- 


FOR  PROMOTING   AGRICULTURE.  137 

wise ;  the  payment  duriog  five  years,  prior  to  August  31, 
1887,  of  $1,000,  annually,  to  aid  the  department  of  the  her- 
barium at  the  Bussey  Institute  ;  in  1884  the  sum  of  '$300  to 
Prof.  William  G.  Farlow,  of  the  Institute,  for  engravings  to 
illustrate  a  treatise  on  rust  in  grain  and  grasses ;  in  1882 
the  sum  which  had  been  usual  for  several  years,  for  scholar- 
ships at  the  State  Agricultural  College ;  in  1883,  for  en- 
gravings, and  printing  a  treatise  on  the  pine  moth  of  Nan- 
tucket, $237  ;  in  1886,  for  certain  experiments  designed  to 
destroy  potato  bugs,  $100  ;  in  1887,  for  premiums  for  the 
exhibition  of  the  Massachusetts  Poultry  Association,  $300  ; 
in  1888,  in  aid  of  the  United  States  agricultural  exhibit  at 
the  Exposition  in  Paris,  by  a  display  of  plates  published  in 
Michaux  works,  $100  ;  in  1889,  for  premiums  for  the  Bos- 
ton Horse  Show,  $150,  and  in  the  same  year,  for  an  in- 
sectory  at  the  State  Agricultural  College,  $200;  in  1890, 
for  premiums  at  the  Massachusetts  Poultry  Association's 
exhibition,  $200  ;  and  in  1891,  for  preparatory  measures 
for  a  Dairy  Exhibit  from  New  England  at  the  World's 
Fair,  to  take  place  at  Chicago,  $175. 

In  1886  an  investigation  was  begun,  under  the  auspices 
of  the  society,  of  certain  diseases  of  milch  cows,  more  es- 
pecially that  known  as  tuberculosis.  In  1887  a  farm  in 
West  Roxbury  was  leased,  which  is  called  in  the  society's 
records,  the  Experiment  Farm.  A  considerable  number  of 
diseased  animals  were  procured,  enough  to  represent  the 
several  noticeable  stages  of  the  progress  or  development  of 
the  disease.  The  chief  immediate  purpose  of  the  investi- 
gation was  to  ascertain  whether  the  milk  of  tuberculous 
cows  was  so  infected  by  germs  of  the  disease  as  to  be  a  pos-' 
sible,  or  probable,  means  of  spreading  the  disease  among 
human  beings,  both  when  the  animals  were  diseased  in  the 
udder,  and  elsewhere.  Incidentally  the  phenomena  of  the 
disease,  as  a  matter  of  scientific  inquiry,  and  methods  of 
cure,  were  taken  into  consideration.  A  number  of  calves 
of  healthy  animals  were  purchased,  and  these  were  fed  with 
the  milk  of  diseased  cows,  and  the  consequences  noted. 
Experiments  by  inoculation  were  also  made.     Rabbits  and 


138  THE  MASSACHUSETTS   SOCIETY 

guinea  pigs  were  treated  in  like  manner.  During  the  first 
season,  the  undertaking  was  in  sole  charge,  as  regards  the 
scientific  part  of  it,  of  Dr.  Austin  Peters,  a  veterinarian  of 
the  first  reputation,  and  in  1888  Dr.  Harold  C.  Ernst,  of 
the  Harvard  College  medical  school,  was  appointed  as  bac-^ 
teriologist  to  the  society.  The  experiments  with  animals 
ceased  on  July  1,  1890,  and  the  laboratory  experiments  on 
January  1,  1891.  The  total  cost  to  the  society  at  that 
time  had  been  122,124.12.  The  results  were  ultimately 
published  in  a  report,  but  the  first  use  made  of  them  was  to 
bring  the  facts  ascertained  to  the  attention  of  a  committee 
of  the  Legislature  of  the  year  1891.  These  facts  were  con- 
firmatory of  opinions  held  by  many  medical  men  in  this 
country  and  in  Europe,  that  the  germs  of  tuberculosis  are 
conveyed  by  the  milk  of  cows  into  the  human  system,  and 
retain  their  vitality,  and  so  cause,  in  part,  prevalent  tuber- 
culosis diseases  in  the  community.  Evidence  was  given  to 
show  that  the  bacillii  (germs  of  the  disease)  in  cows  dis- 
eased, only  elsewhere  than  in  the  udder,  were  liable  to  find 
their  way  into  the  milk  product.  The  legislation  desired 
was  not  obtained  at  that  session,  but  the  effect  has  been 
manifest  in  a  report  to  the  present  Legislature,  from  the- 
Board  of  Agriculture,  and  in  other  places. 

The  various  items  of  expenditure  which  have  been  given 
in  the  foregoing  pages  have  been  intended  only  to  indicate 
in  a  general  way,  the  direction  of  the  society's  efi'orts  at 
different  periods,  and  the  magnitude  of  certain  enterprises 
undertaken  by  its  trustees  or  agents,  or  by  others  acting 
for  the  time  under  its  supervision  or  patronage.  The  fig- 
ures fall  far  short  of  the  total  outlay  in  the  society's 
field  of  activity,  regarded  as  a  whole,  and,  in  many  in- 
stances, in  the  particular  enterprises.  The  cost  of  importa- 
tions of  live  stock,  for  example,  has  always  been  enhanced 
by  expenses  for  keeping,  through  periods  of  various  length.. 
Much  in  printing  and  distributing  circulars  and  small 
pamphlets  has  been  done,  of  which  no  mention  is  here 
made.  The  total  cost  of  the  advertising  in  newspapers  of 
matters  directly  concerning  farmers'  interests,  during  the- 


FOR  PEOMOTING  AGEICULTURB.  139 

century,  could  it  be  ascertained,  would  be  a  surprising 
sum.  What  has  been  set  forth  of  a  financial  character  has 
related  almost  wholly  to  the  expenditures  of  the  society. 
In  the  early  history  of  the  society,  a  considerable  revenue 
was  derived  from  annual  fees.  This  in  time,  through  de- 
crease of  the  membership,  and  by  the  substitution  of  a  spe- 
cific admission  fee  in  place  of  an  annual  fee,  was  diminished 
to  a  small  sum.  At  the  beginning  of  the  civil  war,  as  al- 
ready stated,  the  society  declined  the  annual  bounty  of  the 
State,  and  ever  since,  at  its  own  option,  it  has  refrained 
from  making  any  draft  on  the  State  treasury.  Certain  be- 
quests and  gifts,  the  more  important  of  which  have  been 
mentioned,  came  to  the  society  from  time  to  time.  No 
money  has  ever  been  paid  as  salary  to  any  of  its  officers, 
nor  for  entertainment  of  members  or  guests.  Such  hospi- 
talities as  have  been  offered  have  been  at  the  personal  cost 
of  the  hosts  of  the  several  occasions.  The  society's  finan- 
cial prosperity  has  been  largely  the  consequence  of  a  care- 
ful management  of  the  permanent  funds,  by  restricting  the 
expenditure  of  the  current  year  to  the  income  of  that  year  ; 
and  a  reservation,  as  circumstances  allowed,  of  a  portion  of 
the  income,  to  be  added  to  the  permanent  funds. 


NOTE. 

In  the  statement  on  page  54,  as  to  the  Freeborn  plough,  it 
is  intimated  that  Freeborn  was  a  maker  not  a  designer  of 
ploughs,  and  his  plough  is  identified  with  that  of  Jefferson 
through  the  use  of  the  phrase,  ''spiral  wind.''  Since  the 
manuscript  was  given  to  the  printer,  the  writer  has  seen  a 
New  York  City  advertisement  of  the  year  1819,  in  which  the 
Freeborn  plough  is  distinctly  described  as  a  "  cast-iron 
plough "  and  of  "  Wood's  patent."  This  is  proof  that  the 
Freeborn  plough  was  of  the  Jeffersonian  model. 


Officers  of  the  Society, 

1792-1892. 


PRESIDENTS. 


Thomas  Russell 
John  Lowell 
Caleb  Strong 
John  Adams 
Aaron  Dexter 
John  Lowell 
Thomas  L.  Winthrop 
John  Welles 
John  C.  Gray- 
George  W.  Lyman 
Thomas  Motley 


1792  to 
1796  to 
1802  to 
1805  to 
1813  to 
1823  to 
1828  to 
1841  to 
1846  to 
1857  to 
1870 


1796 
1802 
1805 
1813 
1823 
1828 
1841 
1846 
1857 
1870 


FIRST  VICE  PRESIDENTS. 


John  Lowell 
Moses  Gill     . 
Joseph  Russell 
Aaron  Dexter 
Samuel  W.  Pomeroy 
Thomas  L.  Winthrop 
Israel  Thorndike    . 
Peter  C.  Brooks     . 
John  Welles 
Peter  C.  Brooks     . 
Daniel  Webster 
Francis  C.  Lowell 
William  P.  Mason 
George  W.  Lyman 
Charles  G.  Loring 
Thomas  Motley,  Jr. 
David  Sears,  Jr. 
Leverett  Saftoustall 


1792  to  1796 
1796  to  1800 
1800  to  1807 
1807  to  1813 
1813  to  1823 
1823  to  1828 

1828  to  1829 

1829  to  1835 
1835  to  1841 
1841  to  1846 
1846  to  1853 
1853  to  1855 

1855  to  1856 

1856  to  1857 

1857  to  1860 
1860  to  1870 
1870  to  1873 
1873 


142 


THE    MASSACHUSETTS    SOCIETY 


HONORARY  FIRST  VICE  PRESIDENT. 

Theodore  Lyman 1888 


SECOND  VICE 


Moses  Gill     . 
Joseph  liussell 
Aaron  Dexter 
Theodore  Lyman 
Samuel  W.  Pomeroy 
Thomas  L.  Winthrop 
Israel  Thorndike 
Thomas  H.  Perkins 
John  Welles 
Peter  C.  Brooks     . 
William  Prescott 
John  C.  Gray 
Abbott  Lawrence 
J.  C.  Warren 
William  P.  Mason 
George  W.  Lyman 
Charles  G.  Loring 
Kobert  C.  Winthrop 
Thomas  Motley,  Jr. 
James  W.  Paige     . 
David  Sears,  Jr. 
Amos  A.  Lawrence 
Leverett  Saltonstall 
Amos  A.  Lawrence 
Theodore  Lyman    . 
Henry  Saltonstall 


RECORDING 

John  Avery,  Jr.     . 
Dudley  Atkins  Tyng 
John  Thornton  Kirkland 
Richard  Sullivan 
Gorham  Parsons     . 
John  C.  Gray 


:  PRESIDENTS. 

1792  to  1796 

1796  to  1800 

1800  to  1807 

1807  to  1809 

1809  to  1813 

1813  to  1823 

1823  to  1828 

1828  to  1829 

1829  to  1835 

1835  to  1841 

1841  to  1844 

1844  to  1845 

1845  to  1850 

1850  to  1853 

1853  to  1855 

1855  to  1856 

1856  to  1857 

'   1857  to  1859 

1859  to  1860 

1860  to  1866 

1866  to  1870 

.  •  1870  to  1871 

1871  to  1873 

1873  to  1875 

1875  to  1888 

1888 

SECRETARIES. 

1792  to  1806 

1806  to  1809 

1809  to  1811 

1811  to  1823 

J.823  to  1833 

1833  to  1839 

FOR   PROMOTING   AGRICULTURE. 


143 


George  W.  Lyman 
Robert  C.  Winthrop 
Richard  S.  Fay 
Peter  C.  Brooks,  Jr. 
Edward  N.  Perkins 
E.  F.  Bowditch       . 
Francis  H.  Appleton 


1853  to  1855 

1855  to  1856 

1856  to  1860 
1860  to  1871 
1871-  to  1882 
J  882  to  1892 
1892 


ASSISTANT    RECORDING    SECRETARY. 

Benjamin  Guild 1818  to  1857 


CORRESPONDING 

Oliver  Smith 
Jonathan  Mason,  Jr. 
John  Thornton  Kirkland 
Dr.  Samuel  Parker 
John  Thornton  Kirkland 
John  Lowell 
Richard  Sullivan    . 
John  Lowell 
Richard  Sullivan    . 
John  Heard,  Jr. 
John  C.  Gray 
Josiah  Quincy,  Jr. 
Charles  G.  Loring 
James  W.  Paige     . 
Richard  S.  Fay 
Leverett  Saltonstall 
Benjamin  S.  Rotch 
William  R.  Robeson 
Charles  S.  Sargent 


SECRETARIES. 

1792  to  1797 

1797  to  1798 

1798  to  1802 

1802  to  1805 

1805  to  1806 

. 

1806  to  1823 

. 

1823  to  1828 

, 

1828  to  1830 

1830  to  1835 

1835  to  1839 

1839  to  1844 

1844  to  1853 

. 

1853  to  1855 

1855  to  1860 

1860  to  1866 

1866  to  1871 

1871  to  1875 

1875  to  1879 

. 

1879  to 

TREASURERS. 

Aaron  Dexter 1792  to  1800 

Thomas  L.  Winthrop 1800  to  1813 

John  Prince 1813  to  1827 

John  Heard,  Jr 1827  to  1835 

Henry  Codman 1835  to  1850 


144 


THE   MASSACHUSETTS   SOCIETY 


Thomas  Motley,  Jr. 
David  Sears,  Jr. 
Theodore  Lyman    . 
Henry  Saltonstall 
Jacob  C  Rogers     . 


1850  to  1859 
1859  to  1866 
1866  to  1872 
1872  to  1880 
1880  to 


LIBRARIAN. 


Francis  H.  Appleton 


1884  to 


TRUSTEES. 


Thomas  Russell 
John  Lowell 
Moses  Gill      . 
John  Avery,  Jr. 
Oliver  Smith 
Cotton  Tufts 
Laommi  Baldwin 
James  Bowdoin 
Christopher  Gore 
Charles  Vaughan 
Martin  Brimmer 
Aaron  Dexter 
Samuel  Barker 
Joseph  Russell 
George  Cabot 
John  Codman 
Theodore  Lyman 
Jonathan  Mason 
John  Thornton  Kirkland 
Thomas  L.  Winthrop 
Fisher  Ames 
John  Warren 
Caleb  Strong 
Christopher  Gore   . 
Samuel  W%  Pomeroy 
John  Adams 
Dudley  Atkins  Tyng 
Josiah  Quincy 
William  Emerson 


1792  to 
1792  to 
1792  to 
1792  to 
1792  to 
1792  to 
1792  to 
1792  to 
1792  to 
1792  to 

1792  to 

1793  to 
1 793  to 
1796  to 
1796  to 
1796  to 

1796  to 

1797  to 

1798  to 

1799  to 

1800  to 
1800  to 
1802  to 
1804  to 

1804  to 

1805  to 
1805  to 

1805  to 

1806  to 


1796 
1802 
1800 
1806 
1797 
1793 
1796 
1796 
1796 
1799 
1805 
1827 
1804 
1807 
1805 
1809 
1800 
1798 
1811 
1841 
1804 
1810 
1805 
1806 
1823 
1813 
1816 
1809 
1810 


FOR   PROMOTING   AGRICULTURE. 


145 


John  Lowell 

1806  to  1830 

Ebenezer  Preble     . 

1807  to  1817 

Peter  C.  Brooks     . 

1809  to  1846 

Samuel  G,  Perkins 

1809  to  1815 

J.  S.  Buckminster 

1810  to  1811 

John  Prince 

1810  to  1828 

Richard  Sullivan   . 

1811  to  1835 

Gorham  Parsons     . 

1811  to  1833 

Josiah  Quincy 

1813  to  1826 

Edward  A.  Newton       ,. 

1815  to  1816 

Elias  H.  Derby 

•• 

1816  to  1841 

Samuel  G.  Perkins 

1816  to  1824 

Nathaniel  Ingersol 

1817  to  1818 

John  Welles 

1818  to  1846 

Israel  Thorndike    . 

1823  to  1837 

William  Prescott   . 

1824  to  1844 

Jonathan  Amory    . 

1826  to  1827 

John  Heard,  Jr.     . 

1827  to  1839 

John  C.  Gray 

1827  to  1857 

Thomas  H.  Perkins 

1828  to  1829 

James  Jackson 

1829  to  1831 

Benjamin  Gorham 

1830  to  1831 

John  Lowell 

1831  to  1834 

Samuel  G.  Perkins 

1831  to  1832 

John  Prince 

1832  to  1833 

Daniel  Webster 

1833  to  1853 

Henry  Codman 

1833  to  1850 

Josiah  Quincy,  Jr. 

1834  to  1853 

Abbot  Lawrence     . 

1835  to  1850 

Elias  Phinney 

1837  to  1850 

John  C.  Warren 

1839  to  1853 

Francis  C.  Lowell 

1841  to  1855 

Levi  Lincoln 

1841  to  1842 

John  A.  Lowell 

1842  to  1844 

David  Sears    . 

1844  to  1850 

\Villiam  P.  Mason 

1844  to  1856 

Daniel  P.  King      . 

1846  to  1850 

Thomas  Motley 

1846  to  1847 

George  W.  Lyman 

1847  to  1870 

Charles  G.  Loring 

1850  to  1860 

Edward  Everett      . 

1850  to  1855 

Thomas  Motley,  Jr. 

1850 

146 


THE  MASSACHUSETTS   SOCIETY 


Eobert  C.  Winthrop 

1850  to  1862 

Samuel  Lawrence 

1850  to  1858 

James  Brown 

1853  to  1855 

Josiah  Quincy,  Jr. 

1839  to  1844 

Abbott  Lawrence 

1844  to  1846 

Elias  Phinney 

1846  to  1850 

Francis  C.  Lowell 

1850  to  1853 

George  Peabody 

1853  to  1864 

James  W.  Paige     . 

' 

1853  to  1867 

Richard  S.  Fay       . 

1855  to  1866 

Stephen  Salisbury 

1855  to  1860 

William  S.  Lincoln 

1855  to  1861 

George  T.  Bigelow 

1856  to  1864 

David  Sears,  Jr.     . 

1857  to  1873 

George  B.  Loring 

1858  to  1863 

Peter  C.  Brooks,  Jr. 

1860  to  1871 

Martin  Brimmer    . 

1860  to  1868 

William  B.  Bacon 

1861  to  1863 

Leverett  Saltonstall 

1862 

William  G.  Prescott 

1863  to  1865 

Amos  A.  Lawrence 

1863  to  1875 

Edward  N.  Perkins 

1864  to  1883 

E.  E.  Andrews 

1864  to  1866 

Benjamin  S.  Rotch 

1865  to  1877 

George  M.  Dexter 

1866  to  1873 

Theodore  Lyman    . 

1866  to  1888 

Henry  Saltonstall 

1867 

John  Quincy  Adams 

1868  to  1869 

William  R.  Robeson 

1869  to  1879 

John  G.  Gushing 

1870  to  1882 

Charles  S.  Sargent 

1871 

Henry  S.  Russell 

1873 

E.  F.  Bowditch 

1873  to  1892 

John  Lowell 

1875 

John  Quincy  Adams 

1877  to  1887 

Jacob  C.  Rogers     . 

1879 

Frederick  L.  Ames 

1882 

Francis  H.  Appleton 

1883 

Augustus  Hemenway 

1887 

S.  Endicott  Peabody 

1888 

Walter  Cutting 

.    ■     ■  . 

1892 

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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


